New study identifies suitable climate measures for European cities – EnviroNews

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A new study involving the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) examines which climate mitigation and adaptation priorities cities should set depending on their city type.

For the study, published in the journal Environmental Research Letters, the researchers classified 1,263 European cities into four city types based on shared characteristics – metropolitan, established, growing, and shrinking cities – and linked these with a systematic review of 1,613 studies on urban climate mitigation and adaptation measures. This allowed them to identify which mitigation and adaptation measures are particularly suitable for cities with similar climatic, infrastructural, and socioeconomic conditions:

• Rapidly growing cities in Southern and Southeastern Europe, such as Tirana and Barletta, need infrastructure investment in heat protection and water management.
• Economically established cities such as Landshut and Seville should advance building retrofits, urban greening, and the transport transition.
• Metropolises such as Paris and London particularly benefit from electrification, expanded public transport, and early warning systems for heat and other extreme events.
• In shrinking cities in Eastern Europe, such as Daugavpils and Bydgoszcz, nature-based solutions and infrastructure upgrades can contribute to climate action and flood protection.

“Rapidly growing cities in Southern and Southeastern Europe are already heavily affected by heat and have less urban greenery to mitigate heat stress,” says lead author Mira Kopp, a PIK researcher. “In addition to the necessary adaptation to climate risks, affluent cities in particular bear a significant responsibility to reduce emissions and thus protect the climate. This requires creative approaches and active public participation to drive the transition to environmentally friendly modes of transport and the retrofitting of existing buildings.”

The findings can also be applied to Berlin: with its “Baumgesetz” (tree law), the metropolis aims to plant more than 400,000 additional street trees.

“This can help slightly mitigate heatwaves,” says Felix Creutzig, PIK researcher and co-author of the study. “But overall, Berlin is not on track to meet even its moderate 2030 climate targets with current measures. There is a lack of policy instruments to achieve emissions reductions, particularly in the transport sector.”