Cities lead the way in climate-change action

Abstract

Because nearly 80% of New York City emissions come from buildings, the New York plan includes compulsory energy audits of city and commercial buildings of more than 4,645 square metres (50,000 square feet). The NYC Panel on Climate Change, a group of scientists and experts led by two of us (CR and WS), provided climate-change risk information for the task force, including projections of sea level rise with and without rapid ice melt, as well as a framework for the development of the city's climate-resilience planning effort4.