Making cities climate-neutral is the answer to mitigating the climate crisis, Konstantinos Kartalis, EKPA professor and member of the European Union Scientific Committee on Climate Change, explained to the Athens Macedonian News Agency.

Today, cities account for approximately 50% of carbon dioxide emissions, and it is estimated that this percentage will increase to 70% by 2050. In Athens, according to data recently presented in the context of an event by the Hellenic Society for the Protection of Nature, Mr. Kartalis, 68% of greenhouse gas emissions come from buildings and 21% from road transport.

“I know there are concerns about the ability of cities to meet the need to reduce carbon emissions, but there are solutions, and already several cities around the world are implementing programs aimed at becoming climate neutral. The same applies to Greece either through European programs (Athens, Thessaloniki, Kalamata, Ioannina, Trikala, Kozani) or through the respective national programs. In my opinion, in addition to contributing to global efforts to mitigate the effects of the climate crisis, this is an important opportunity to modernize and change the model of city management, which, however, requires significant and long-term commitment to the goal. With actions that will last 1-2 years, the goal will not be achieved, and the investments made will not last over time,” emphasizes Konstantinos Kartalis at APE-MPE.

The 2022 report of the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change says that while cities bear the largest share of the responsibility for exacerbating climate change and the crisis, they are also the only ones that can catalytically contribute to solving the problem.

“The answer is to make the city climate neutral, that is, to reduce carbon dioxide emissions as much as possible and to strengthen what removes the remaining carbon dioxide from the atmosphere (for example, more green spaces),” notes Mr. Kartalis in APE- MPE.

The professor adds that each city must first fix its sources of carbon dioxide. Buildings, according to Mr. Kartalis, are one of the sources of carbon dioxide emissions, whether they are private homes or public and commercial buildings, mainly in terms of the type of energy they use for heating-cooling.

In addition, road transport, industry/crafts, landfills are also sources of carbon dioxide emissions. “Therefore, an indicative combination of measures will be energy from renewable sources, low-emission vehicles with a gradual transition to electric vehicles, more vehicles to limit the use of cars. cars, clean technologies in industry, more green spaces,” notes Konstantinos Kartalis.

According to him, the effects of climate change in Greece are estimated to affect the entire territory of the country, but will mainly affect the heights of Thessaly and further south. The main impacts relate to the temperature-precipitation dichotomy and are characterized by higher temperatures, reduced precipitation and, above all, stronger and longer heat waves.

“It should be noted that severe storms leading to flooding are a characteristic element of climate change, especially when anthropogenic interventions have been made on the earth (blocking streams, etc.),” he emphasizes. However, as Mr. Kartalis explains, each city will need its own climate change adaptation plan.

“A universal plan that will be applied indiscriminately in every city will not lead to the desired results. On the contrary, a very careful recording of the characteristics (urban, climatic, environmental, social, economic, etc.) of each city and the more specific climatic impacts it receives is needed. If a city is more at risk from heat waves, resilience is increased through interventions in the building sector (e.g. insulation), more green cores (e.g. small and medium parks), building materials that absorb less solar radiation (cold materials), etc. etc.”, points out Professor APE-MBE.

Finally, Mr. Kartalis explains that the world needs to know that climate change is an instability in the climate system, which can manifest itself in the form of high and low temperatures, as well as extreme weather events in general, which we either knew about or relatively new, or they are combined with each other.

“For example, last summer we had maritime heatwaves in the western Mediterranean (meaning much warmer sea temperatures leading to severe storms) and a combination of extreme heat and drought. In these cases, one phenomenon amplifies the intensity of the other,” he concludes.

Source: RES-IPE