How Can Cities Adapt to Climate Change?

Goldman Sachs Exchanges

Goldman Sachs

Business

4.4 • 1K Ratings

🗓️ 25 September 2019

⏱️ 18 minutes

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Summary

Adapting to a warmer world could drive one of the largest infrastructure build-outs in history, according to a new report from Goldman Sachs’ Global Markets Institute, titled Taking the heat: making cities resilient to climate change. The report acknowledges the importance of reducing carbon emissions but focuses on the need to adapt to ongoing changes in the climate. Cities, which are home to the majority of the world’s population and generate most of its GDP, will need to develop climate resilience across all types of infrastructure, including coastal protection, transportation, energy and communications. They will need to take an “all-of-the-above” approach to financing, according to Sandra Lawson, executive director of the Global Markets Institute, because “even the most prosperous cities are not going to be able to fund this alone.” Amanda Hindlian, chief operating officer of Global Investment Research and president of the Global Markets Institute, recommends that cities “start now” and allow for maximum flexibility, so that they can “benefit from input costs and economies of scale that that come from new technologies and that make these problems easier to address in economically feasible ways over time.”

Transcript

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0:00.0	This is Exchanges Goldman Sachs, where we discuss developments currently shaping markets, industries
0:13.4	in the global economy. I'm Jake Stewart, global head of corporate communications here at the
0:17.4	firm. Today we're talking about this question, how can cities become resilient to
0:22.0	climate change?
0:23.4	We're joined in the studio by Amanda Hindleyon and Sandra Lawson,
0:26.6	authors of a new report from Goldman Sachs Global Markets Institute
0:29.8	titled, Taking the Heat, Making Cities Res cities resilient to climate change.
0:34.4	Amanda and Sandra, welcome back to the program.
0:36.7	Thank you.
0:37.7	Thank you.
0:38.7	Sandra, let's start with what gave rise to this report.
0:40.6	You focused on the need to adapt to the effects of climate change and become more resilient.
0:44.6	Why did you choose that angle rather than, say, lowering carbon emissions?
0:49.0	We did a lot of research on the topic of climate change and we were really stuck by how much attention goes to
0:53.8	reducing carbon emissions and how little attention goes to this question of adaptation.
0:58.8	While reducing carbon is incredibly important and those efforts need to continue and they actually need to accelerate,
1:04.7	it doesn't seem like there'll be enough for the world to withstand what's coming.
1:09.6	Because the scientists say that the world has already warmed by about 1 degree
1:13.4	Celsius over the past century and a bit and that the world is going to
1:17.4	continue to warm and that's for a couple of reasons. One is that there's just
1:20.8	so much carbon already accumulated in the air, in the oceans, and that's
1:25.3	going to continue this warming process that can't just be turned off quickly.
	...

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