Cities are rapidly becoming the front line for confronting the implications of climate change. With over half the world’s population, two-thirds of the world’s energy consumption, and 80 percent of the world’s GDP, cities not only have direct influence over greenhouse gas emissions, but also face the greatest concentration of physical, social and economic risks associated with climate change.

A new report examines data from more than 200 cities relating to their concerns about, as well as strategies and activities to address climate change. The report, “Protecting our Capital – how climate adaptation in cities creates a resilient place for business,” is from CDP (formerly Carbon Disclosure Project), ArchTam and the C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group, and will be released tomorrow, Thursday July 10.

The report launch in New York City will be broadcast live on the web, with a keynote presentation by Vice Admiral Lee Gunn, United States Navy (Ret.), an authority on the social and national security implications of climate change, and the report presentation by Claire Bonham-Carter, director of sustainable development for ArchTam.

To view the live webcast at 6:15 – 7:00 EDT, July 10, (or watch the recording), visit the CDP global cities report launch page.

The 2014 report (and previous reports) will be available on the ArchTam website following the launch.

Erik Miller (erik.miller@archtam.com) is a senior communications manager with ArchTam.

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Public buildings often define the impression of a city. But many are being neglected and overlooked.

In the U.S., millions of children are attending deteriorating schools. Hospitals are postponing badly needed repairs. According to Business Insider, public construction (as a percentage of U.S. GDP) is at its lowest point in 20 years.

The challenge to fund critical infrastructure is a concern of governments throughout the world. When it comes to the infrastructure gap—the shortfall between the investment needed and the amount funded—transportation gets the lion’s share of the discussion. And indeed, the need with aging bridges, highways, railways and airports is readily apparent. Yet our social infrastructure and water and wastewater systems have equally pressing demands—and often the responsibility to maintain and improve much of it rests with regional organizations and municipal governments.

A mechanism that offers potential to spur investment in all facets of infrastructure is public-private financing. Common in the transportation realm, public-private partnerships (PPPs) have become a widely accepted project delivery model outside of the U.S. across a variety of infrastructure sectors. PPPs permit the public sector to leverage private sector investment capital, shift project risk, and facilitate a higher level of maintenance for significant projects.

A new paper from ArchTam outlines how PPP’s can be an effective to help close the infrastructure gap, even to address disaster resilience at the local level, and examines the advantages and common misunderstandings of public-private financing.

For more information, see the press release on “Fostering a Larger Private-Sector Role in United States Infrastructure” including a link to the paper executive summary. (Though the paper focuses on U.S. issues the principles apply universally.)

Erik Miller (erik.miller@archtam.com) is an editor of the Connected Cities blog.

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With the release of a proposed climate action plan for the U.S., President Obama brings renewed national focus to an issue that, frankly, many of the world’s leading cities long since moved beyond debating and began addressing.

Specifically, how do we reduce our carbon emissions, minimize additional human-caused change to the climate, and prepare ourselves to adapt to the inevitable consequences already in place?

Scores of cities in the U.S. have climate action plans in place (more than 50 in California alone), as do many more world-wide. And a new report that surveys 110 cities around the globe reveals that cities’ actions to address climate change are bearing secondary dividends.

The report, entitled “How climate change action is giving us wealthier, healthier cities” from CDP (an independent organization working to reduce greenhouse gas emissions) with analysis by ArchTam, suggests that emissions reductions activities make business sense. Cities are reporting up to US$13 million in annual energy savings and that initiatives they are taking to reduce emissions are likely to boost the economy and attract new business investment.

The full report and a video of a panel discussion with city representatives and the report leaders is available the CDP cities global report launch site.

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Faced with potential disasters that read like a list of Hollywood blockbusters, San Francisco is among the increasing number of cities that are taking steps to increase their resiliency.

Three years ago, the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction began a campaign to build resilient communities around the world. Since then over 1,400 cities have signed the UNISDR Initiative.

San Francisco, the first major U.S. city to join UNISDR’s campaign, has been identified as a model city for engaging citizens in building resilience at the neighborhood level with a “whole community” approach. The city was invited by a UN advisory group to participate in a public-private dialogue on resilient investment, and in April 2013 held a workshop with 30 participants from the public and private sectors. The purpose was to define resilient investment and identify current successes and future needs. ArchTam’s Claire Bonham-Carter, director of sustainable development, participated.

The city has an impressive sustainability track record and ambitions (by 2020, the city targets zero waste, carbon free electricity citywide and reduced per capita water use of 20%) – but also faces substantial risks from earthquakes, tsunamis, pandemics, severe storms and rising sea levels.

The challenges identified in San Francisco reflect the issues many cities face:

• Persuading public, private and community investors to incorporate total cost of risk into decision-making
• Increasing coordination for decision-making, emergency planning and regional planning
• Identifying creative financing options
• Setting appropriate incentives and regulations

Through the workshop the city has targeted next steps and formed a resilient investment focus group of public and private sector leaders. They’re working to apply UNISDR’s 10 essentials, incorporating resilience into Central Corridor Eco-District planning and creating a roadmap to resilience.

We can’t make any city immune to extreme weather, natural and man-made disasters and the uncertain impacts of climate change. But we can better prepare ourselves to minimize the disruptions, protect lives and property and improve the chances for continuity in our communities, economies and environments when disasters strike.

Is your city resilient? The UNISDR website has information on how you can get involved.

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