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A new C40 report argues cities can boost the economy while responding to pressing climate change crisis

By Patrick Sisson

Cities are essential to fighting climate change, according to new research released today, both oversized contributors to the problem, but also, with the right policy, potential saviors when it comes to cutting carbon emissions.

Towards a Healthier World, a new report released by C40, a global network of cities committed to confronting climate change, argues that progressive urban policy can not only make a significant dent in the problem, but benefit the economy at the same time.

“This research quantifies and provides the business case for what mayors have long known to be true: taking bold climate action also improves public health,” C40 Executive Director Mark Watts said in a statement. “There is no longer any trade-off for cities between delivering policies that benefit the environment, drive economic growth and improve the health of citizens.”

Cities are where climate change is both fueled and felt: urban areas generate 70 percent of the globe’s CO2, while at the same time 80 percent of city dwellers are regularly exposed to unsafe air quality. A recent World Health Organization report estimates that globally, 630 million children under 5 years old are exposed to unsafe air.

The last few months have brought a series of deathly serious reports on the state of the Earth’s climate.

Read the full story HERE >>> Source: Curbed Cities, on front lines of climate change, can make outsized difference