--- title: Climate Change: Why Cities Are Next Global Warming Frontier description: A number of the world's largest cities, states and other sub-national authorities have suggested they're ready to focus on climate change canonical: https://time.com/4052920/cities-climate-change/ author: Justin Worland article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-09-29T18:57:16.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:57:39.195Z article:section: Science og:title: Climate Change: Why Cities Are Next Global Warming Frontier og:description: A number of the world's largest cities, states and other sub-national authorities have suggested they're ready to focus on climate change og:url: https://time.com/4052920/cities-climate-change/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt84f0dfebd5036819/6988660fcd1bba2ebb6fd6ae/traffic-climate-change.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 5200 og:image:height: 2925 og:image:alt: traffic climate change og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Climate Change: Why Cities Are Next Global Warming Frontier twitter:description: A number of the world's largest cities, states and other sub-national authorities have suggested they're ready to focus on climate change twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt84f0dfebd5036819/6988660fcd1bba2ebb6fd6ae/traffic-climate-change.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Why Cities Are the Next Frontier in the Fight Against Climate Change > Sponsored content. 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Named editors include Richard Hall (The Brief), Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs (Inside TIME), Eliza Berman (Worth Your Time), Philip Elliott (D.C. Brief), Justin Worland (Future Proof) and Harry Booth (In the Loop). Health Matters is written by TIME's health desk. #### How do I sign up for a TIME newsletter? Go to time.com/newsletters, choose the newsletters you want and enter your email address. There is no cost and no subscription requirement. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-network-2026q3/newsletters?i=47cf0350-0d28-447b-b653-bf444bd26b23&cr=time-nl-network-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Watch: A Timelapse of Climate Change [Watch (HLS stream): Watch: A Timelapse of Climate Change](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/ywHiuC83.m3u8) (0:48)  _Published 2013-05-09. Climate Change_  by [Justin Worland](https://time.com/author/justin-worland/)  ## Justin Worland Senior Correspondent Sep 29, 2015 6:57 PM UTC  Cities are causing climate change—and they could help stop it Cities are causing climate change—and they could help stop it Getty Images  by [Justin Worland](https://time.com/author/justin-worland/)  ## Justin Worland Senior Correspondent Sep 29, 2015 6:57 PM UTC Throughout the past year, countries around the world have announced individual commitments to cutting carbon dioxide emissions in hopes these cuts will keep global temperatures from rising more than 3.6°F (2°C) by 2100\. With [research](http://time.com/4051894/climate-change-countries-commitment/) showing the pledged emission cuts aren’t anywhere near enough to avoid dangerous climate change, experts say cities and other sub-national governments will be responsible for making up the difference. The good news is that emissions from cities represent more than 70% of energy-related carbon dioxide emissions, and local leaders often have more autonomy to enact regulations—autonomy they are willing to exercise. Earlier this month, cities across the U.S. and China announced commitments to curtail their own emissions by a total of 1.2 gigatons of carbon dioxide annually. (For perspective, the entire U.S. emits between 5 and 6 gigatons each year.) And last week, states, provinces and other regions from Quebec to South Australia announced voluntary commitments to cut carbon emissions leading to a 7.9-gigaton reduction by 2030. “Cities have a capability to execute,” said Jules Kortenhorst, the CEO of the Rocky Mountain Institute, an energy think tank. “Mayors are both powerful and grounded in reality.” Indeed, many climate and energy experts have turned to cities precisely because mayors can often take action in ways that national governments cannot. In the U.S. President Barack Obama has seen efforts to institute a cap-and-trade system thwarted and regulations on power plants challenged in court. But at the state level, [California](http://www.edf.org/sites/default/files/content/carbon-market-california-year%5Ftwo.pdf) enacted a cap-and-trade system in 2006, cut greenhouse gas emissions and still managed to grow the economy. “Even without national legislation, countries can make great progress if leadership comes from other places,” former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg said in an address during the city’s Climate Week. On Monday, Bloomberg announced the creation of an umbrella organization to combine the efforts of the Compact of Mayors and the Compact of States and Regions, two previously separate organizations aimed at cutting emissions at the sub-national level. Earlier this week, Bloomberg said the Compact of Mayors had obtained commitments from more than 175 cities that are collectively home to more than 250 million people. While city programs can only address emissions in a narrow geographical area, policy experts say those efforts can lay the groundwork for future national efforts. China, for instance, experimented with cap-and-trade programs in seven cities before announcing the creation of national system last week. Other cap-and-trade systems, in places like California and the European Union, may be used as models for future international systems. Later this fall, while negotiators from national governments around the world work to hammer out a climate deal in Paris, policymakers for state and regional governments will also be meeting to construct their own agreements on how to reduce carbon emissions. “Even if the average commitment of governments are \[low\], a number of local authorities think they can do better,” said French Climate Ambassador Laurence Tubiana, who is helping lead the Paris conference. “That’s positive.” ## Transcript [ MUSIC ] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4052920/cities-climate-change/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4052920/cities-climate-change/"},"headline":"Why Cities Are the Next Frontier in the Fight Against Climate Change","datePublished":"2015-09-29T18:57:16.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T07:57:39.195Z","description":"Cities represent more than 70% of energy-related carbon dioxide emissions","url":"https://time.com/4052920/cities-climate-change/","keywords":["climate change"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt84f0dfebd5036819/6988660fcd1bba2ebb6fd6ae/traffic-climate-change.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Justin Worland","jobTitle":"Senior Correspondent","url":"https://time.com/author/justin-worland/"}],"articleSection":"Science","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt84f0dfebd5036819/6988660fcd1bba2ebb6fd6ae/traffic-climate-change.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"traffic climate change","caption":"traffic climate change","creditText":"Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/science/","name":"Science"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/climate-change/","name":"climate change"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4052920/cities-climate-change/","name":"Why Cities Are the Next Frontier in the Fight Against Climate Change"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Watch: A Timelapse of Climate Change","description":"Climate Change","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/ywHiuC83/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2013-05-09T17:46:05.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/ywHiuC83.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4052920/cities-climate-change/","duration":"PT48S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4052920/cities-climate-change/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```