Online platform will help cities reach net-zero

New online platform will help cities accelerate their climate action plans. 

Cities are home to more than half the world’s population and generate 70% of global energy-related greenhouse gas emissions. But cities have complex economies and so planning effective action can be challenging. 

In 2020, 812 cities disclosed their emissions and 67% had citywide inventories of their emissions. But over half (51%) had no climate action plans and only 18% had set targets aligned with 1.5°C.

Swedish technology company ClimateView has partnedered with Microsoft and environmental non-profit CDP to offer cities worldwide a platform to help them define a comprehensive strategy to cut emissions and accelerate action to meet their climate targets. 

The ClimateOS platform enables cities to set science-based carbon targets and identify the best way to meet them. It creates a digital twin city, reflecting the complexity of each city’s unique economy, and models the impact of dozens of separate low-carbon transitions across a range of sectors.

Newcastle, Cincinnati, Mannheim and Bern are among more than 35 cities and municipalities that are already using the ClimateOS platform in the UK, US, Germany, Switzerland, Sweden, Spain and Canada.

The toolkit will helps cities to navigate the complexity of their transition by breaking down their citywide economy into 80 manageable transition elements. Each represents a shift to a low-carbon way of meeting a specific need, such as moving from petrol and diesel cars to electric vehicles. Cities can then plan actions to drive each shift, such as subsidising EV purchases and building charging infrastructure.

Tomer Shalit, ClimateView founder and chief product officer, said: ‘Governments’ climate pledges are not enough to avoid dangerous climate change and cities are stepping up to fill the gap. We want to turbocharge climate action by giving cities free access to a platform where they can plan, simulate and execute coordinated measures to cut carbon emissions across their whole economy.’

José Antonio Ondiviela, Microsoft Western Europe Government / Smart Cities Solutions director, added: ‘All over the world cities are using new technology and data to improve residents’ lives, provide better services and support thriving businesses. We know there is strong demand for smart city solutions to address the huge challenge of decarbonisation, and ClimateView’s platform is designed to support cities through a successful net zero transition.’

Photo by ben o’bro