One in four cities struggle to cope with climate crisis

One in four cities worldwide does not have enough money to protect themselves from ravages of climatic change, and 90 per cent are facing vulnerabilities out of it, as per the analysis of a study by The Guardian. The survey conducted by the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) among 800 cities of the world inferred that they are facing severe issues of flooding, overheating, water shortages and damage to their infrastructure due to frequent climate change.

Forty-three per cent of them, represented by a population of 400 million, have no plans to adapt to these climatic crises, while 25 per cent cites budget shortage as the reason. The study found that many of these cities rely on the national government's funding in protecting their population and infrastructure.

According to the study, 422 cities had projects to adapt to climate change last year but yet to be financed. The required investments for them amounts to 72 billion dollars, and 22 billion alone should go for water management projects.

Kyra Appleby, the global director of the CDP, opined that despite the enormous benefits in financing adaptation to climatic change projects, it never gets implemented. Only a fraction of recovery spending sanctioned for the pandemic is being put for such projects. Installation of renewable energy generation units are well promoted, which saves money and generate financial return, but the benefits of adapting to extreme weather should also be given attention.

The study says that reducing disaster risks and increasing resilience to climate breakdown also promises the public clean air and water. When green spaces like public parks and related amenities are created, it could vastly improve public health and mental wellbeing.

Appleby says that the pandemic induced lockdown last year opened many people's eyes to the issue of "resilience and the interconnectedness of the planet". She further states that national governments should release funding for vulnerable cities to make them long term resilient spaces to climatic disasters.

According to her, three-quarters of the subjected cities were working on businesses to raise funds or plan to do so in the next two years. Some cities such as London, Bristol, Los Angeles and Athens are adapting well to the climatic crisis. Athens is planting trees and turning roofs green to cool its overheated streets, while, Bristol is constructing flood defence.