the Urban rail.

This is what cities need to do by 2050 to meet climate goals

By 2050, most people will live in cities. A new report lays out the ways to keep their emissions in check.

Munich, Germany, plans to power itself entirely with renewable energy by 2025. The municipality has already signed a contract to supply power to its urban rail system, the S-Bahn, with energy from an offshore wind park in the North Sea.

Photograph by Luca Locatelli

By 2050, about 70 percent of the world’s population will go about their daily lives in cities. They’ll do all the things that make up a quotidian life: eating, traveling from home to work to school, cool down in the supercharged summers and warm up in the winter, and more.

All of those experiences cost a lot of energy and currently, that energy costs a lot of carbon. Urban dwellers, as a whole, end up being responsible for a whopping three-quarters of all today’s greenhouse gas emissions. But it doesn’t have to be that way, a new report from the Coalition for Urban Transitions stresses: Using technologies and policies that already exist today, cities could cut their carbon emissions

DON'T MISS THE REST OF THIS STORY!
Create a free account to continue and get unlimited access to hundreds of Nat Geo articles, plus newsletters.

Create your free account to continue reading

No credit card required. Unlimited access to free content.
Or get a Premium Subscription to access the best of Nat Geo - just $19
SUBSCRIBE

Read This Next

'World’s worst shipwreck' was bloodier than we thought
World’s first ultrasounds of wild manta rays reveal a troubling truth
Titanic was found during secret Cold War Navy mission

Go Further

Subscriber Exclusive Content

Why are people so dang obsessed with Mars?

How viruses shape our world

The era of greyhound racing in the U.S. is coming to an end

See how people have imagined life on Mars through history

See how NASA’s new Mars rover will explore the red planet

Why are people so dang obsessed with Mars?

How viruses shape our world

The era of greyhound racing in the U.S. is coming to an end

See how people have imagined life on Mars through history

See how NASA’s new Mars rover will explore the red planet

Why are people so dang obsessed with Mars?

How viruses shape our world

The era of greyhound racing in the U.S. is coming to an end

See how people have imagined life on Mars through history

See how NASA’s new Mars rover will explore the red planet