CAPITAL CITIES can meet their greenhouse gas emission targets without a dramatic shift in the lifestyles of their citizens, according to a new report on climate change launched in London yesterday.
According to the report, entitled "Sustainable Urban Infrastructure", some of the most effective strategies don't even cost much, and may save money in householders' electricity, water and waste water and motor fuel bills.
The report claimed adopting currently available technologies could reduce annual CO2 emissions in London by nearly 44 per cent - almost 20 megatonnes - by 2025 compared to 1990. The report from international management consultants McKinsey Company, which was sponsored by Siemens, analysed more than 200 technologies that reduce greenhouse gas emissions, water usage and waste disposal in the city.
While focused on London, the study showed that the adoption of many technologies for reducing greenhouse gases makes good economic sense. Almost 70 per cent of the potential abatement could be achieved with the help of technologies that would pay for themselves, largely by reducing energy costs, it argued.
At a one-day conference organised to coincide with the launch of the report, more than 120 journalists from across Europe and Asia heard the strategy for London used broad principles that could be adapted in most cities.
Among the findings of the report were:
• The biggest saving potential lies in buildings, which generate some two-thirds of London's entire CO2 emissions. Nearly 90 per cent of the necessary improvement works which could be undertaken when buildings come up for refurbishment pay off for those making the investment decisions.
• Motor vehicle fuel efficiency offers great saving potential in terms of greenhouse gas emissions. Transport emissions in London could be reduced by 25 per cent by 2025, it claimed, pointing out that the congestion charge in London was actually more successful at reducing emissions than it was in reducing congestion.
• CO2 emissions from energy supply could be reduced through the use of various combined heat and power systems and by measures related to the national grid mix.
• London, like many older cities, currently loses over 30 per cent of its water production through leakages in its distribution system - the equivalent to the volume needed to fill about 350 Olympic swimming pools every day. Savings on the demand side would therefore be especially effective.
• In view of high and rising landfill fees and taxes, there are economic alternatives to waste treatment. In addition to recycling, there are a number of technologies that use household garbage to generate electricity - either by converting it into biogas or by burning it. The energy generated in this way can supply thousands of households with electricity and heat.
The study also showed nearly 75 percent of these technological changes are controlled by consumers. The conference also heard that more than half of the world's population live in urban centres today, and the number is likely to grow to nearly 60 per cent by 2025. "Cities are responsible for some 80 per cent and, therefore, a disproportionate share of the world's greenhouse gas emissions," according to the report.