May 15, 2007, 12:00am EDT

How Cities Can Help Save the Planet

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Felix Salmon

This morning's proceedings at the New York Climate Summit were a good way to start the day: full of hope and optimism. Rather than getting frustrated at the seeming inability of the world's national governments to do anything about climate change, the assembled mayors and other municipal officials seemed convinced that, collectively, they were willing and able to take on a large part of the challenge themselves.

New York's Dan Doctoroff kicked it off, explaining how his PlaNYC started by looking how to solve problems related to energy usage, congestion, transportation, livable streets, and generally the ability of the city to survive an expected influx of 1 million new inhabitants. It turned out, he said, that nearly all of the ways to address these issues -- and save money at the same time -- involved "going green".

London's Ken Livingstone then said that cities produce 3/4 of global carbon emissions, which means that cities can and should take the lead in terms of tackling climate change issues. "It is in cities that the battle to tackle climate change will be won or lost," he said, calling for a democracy in terms of carbon emissions: those who emit too much now must drastically reduce their emissions, while developing cities with much lower per-capita emissions "should plan for stabilizing their emissions in the future".

Interestingly, municipal governments don't only seem to be well ahead of federal governments on this issue; they're also playing a crucial role in encouraging the businesses and residents of their cities to get up to speed as well. Richard Daley of Chicago knows that developers and unions are not exactly famous for being green; he said that he's now implemented a system whereby they can get their construction permits much more easily if they're constructing green projects.