Preface
We are pleased to release this new OECD report on A Territorial Approach to Climate Action and Resilience. This report has been jointly produced by the OECD Centre for Entrepreneurship, SMEs, Regions and Cities (CFE) and the OECD Environment Directorate (ENV), with the support of the Government of Japan.
Global warming has already reached 1.1°C above pre-industrial levels, and at current warming rates, it is likely to breach the 1.5°C Paris Agreement target as early as in 2030. Risks of reaching climate tipping points, which will accelerate these trends and, potentially, result in irreversible changes to the climate system, are also increasing, as is the need for global actions. While the impacts of climate change, and mitigating actions, will inevitably differ across countries they will also differ within them, with the most vulnerable communities typically hit hardest, reinforcing the importance of local actions to complement national and global efforts. For instance, over the last five years, daytime summer temperatures in half of OECD cities have been 3°C warmer than in the surrounding areas, and in some cities this reaches 7°C.
Building on broader OECD work on climate, including the OECD International Programme for Action on Climate (IPAC) and the Inclusive Forum on Carbon Mitigation Approaches (IFCMA), this report offers two major tools to drive more effective climate action and strengthen resilience through a place-based approach. First, it proposes a novel OECD territorial climate indicator framework to assess where cities and regions stand vis-à-vis national and global climate goals and targets. Second, it puts forward a policy framework of nine actions to help both national and subnational governments reduce greenhouse gas emissions across places and better address local impacts.
This report illustrates the critical importance of leveraging synergies across different policy sectors and levels of government to deploy effective climate action and meet the goal of the Paris Agreement and, in turn, build climate resilience. The analysis of 36 leading practices of territorial approaches used across OECD countries highlights the dual need to integrate a place-based perspective into broader national and international climate policies on the one hand, and to integrate and mainstream climate objectives into urban, rural and regional development policies on the other.
We are confident that this report will contribute to a multi-sector and whole-of-government approach to accelerate climate action and resilience at all territorial scales. We stand ready to support and drive further progress on this journey.
Director, Centre for Entrepreneurship, SMEs, Regions and Cities (CFE), OECD
