Xuemei Bai, Distinguished Professor, Australian National University
Combatting climate change and staying within the safe and just Earth System Boundaries require all-hands-on-deck approach. No one, no matter how ambitious they are, can do it alone, always require collective actions. Collaborations within and across sectors essential.
Cities and companies are two key actors, each responsible for vast majority of consumption and production related emissions and impacts. While many frontrunner cities and companies are setting ambitious targets to achieve net zero CO2 emission for example, these remain largely separate processes. The colocation of the headquarters of large companies (the decision making entity of an ecosystem of supply chain) and large cities, could be an important untapped opportunity to accelerate climate actions.
The paper "City–company collaboration towards aligned science-based target setting" examines the potential impact of collaborative efforts between cities and companies in achieving net-zero emissions and beyond. Examining 200 top emitter cities and 500 top emitter companies, the study asks what if these colocated cities and companies reach out to each other and abreast their ambition level? How much additional carbon reduction such collaboration would achieve? The study identifies 110 cities with existing net-zero targets and 22 companies with established science-based targets. A key finding of the research is the significant mitigation potential that remains untapped due to the lack of coordinated action. An additional reduction of 3.41 gigatonnes of CO₂ equivalent (GtCO₂e) in annual emissions can be achieved if these cities and companies abreast their ambition levels, representing a substantial contribution to global climate goals.
The findings underscore the critical need for integrated approaches. The authors emphasize the importance of aligning the ambition level of climate targets of urban centers and businesses to maximize mitigation outcomes. By recognizing and taking advantage of geographic colocation, cities and companies can maximize the effect of their own targets and actions by bring others along the journey.
Such collaboration would require cities and companies to engage in ‘proactive influencing’ across sectors. The paper calls for the development of frameworks and policies that facilitate city–company partnerships, enabling synchronized target setting and implementation strategies.
The paper can be accessed via https://www.nature.com/articles/s41893-024-01473-w. This paper is part of ongoing work of the Earth Commission Translation, Actors and Agency (TAA) workstream, aiming at translating Safe and Just Earth System Boundaries for cities and businesses. Other related papers include:
Bai, X, 2024. A case for altruistic cities. Science.
Bai, X. et al, 2024. Translating Earth system boundaries for cities and businesses. Nature Sustainability.
Bai, X. et al, 2022. How to stop cities and companies causing planetary harm. Nature.
