Are Cities Ready to Handle Climate-Related Risks?

With their concentrated population and infrastructure, cities are especially vulnerable to climate change.

Rising temperatures are leading to heat stress, which is now the leading cause of global weather-related deaths, according to the World Health Organization. Dense buildings and structures and the lack of green spaces in some cities also create the urban heat island (UHI) effect, which worsens climate change.

Copernicus declared July 2023 as having the highest average temperatures since the record began reaching 17.09°C, but this year’s July has now broken that record at 17.16°C.

Today, more than half of humanity chooses to live and work in cities. This density of people, structures, businesses, and services makes cities a major consumer of energy, which is the primary source of GHG emissions and is causing climate change. The World Bank estimates that cities contribute about 70% of global GHG emissions. As cities amplify climate risk, they also have a pivotal role in offering climate adaptation solutions and building resilience.

A 2024 report from The Economist Group’s Economist Impact, supported by Zurich Insurance Group, explores urban residents’ concerns about their cities’ readiness to handle the impacts of climate change, their perceptions of existing climate adaptation and mitigation and the barriers to it.

The findings are based on a literature review, a general population survey and an expert interview programme conducted by Economist Impact between May and September 2024. The survey gathered insights from 5,000 residents in Amsterdam, Cairo, Cape Town, Dubai, Jakarta, Madrid, Mumbai, New York City, São Paulo and Tokyo.

Below is a graph from the report showing resident’s perceptions of how prepared their city is to respond to climate-related risk.

Infrastructure respondents feel that they are most vulnerable to climate change’s impacts.

Key findings of the report:

• Four in five people believe their city is underprepared to manage climate-related risks. Around 32% of respondents think their city is somewhat prepared, 22% think it is neither prepared nor unprepared, and 28% consider it unprepared.
• Water management infrastructure is most vulnerable to climate-related risks. 41% of respondents believe their city’s water management infrastructure is at risk. This aligns with respondents’ concerns about the risks and impacts of climate change: 38% worry about potential water shortages or drought, and 37% are concerned about flooding.
• Climate change exacerbates existing inequalities, with its impacts varying across gender, age and socioeconomic groups. Vulnerable groups, such as women, children, and the elderly, face disproportionate risks. For example, 53% of women are concerned about air pollution compared with 49% of men. In comparison, 41% of respondents aged 65 and above worry about the vulnerability of transportation infrastructure to climate change, compared with 24% of younger respondents.
• Respondents expect governments at all levels to collaborate on climate change adaptation. Survey respondents believe that national and local governments (50% and 46%, respectively) should be the stakeholders primarily responsible for improving adaptation in their cities. However, they believe policy misalignment causes challenges: 57% of respondents cited “conflicting priorities around climate change across different levels of government” as a primary barrier to effective adaptation.
• Respondents believe that the private sector is not doing enough to support climate adaptation in cities. 28% think companies should lead on climate adaptation, and 58% feel that businesses are taking only moderate, limited, or no action to mitigate climate impacts and facilitate climate adaptation.
• Individuals are taking personal steps to become more resilient to climate change, but high costs, insufficient knowledge, and lack of trust in government policies are holding them back. Nearly a third of respondents feel personally responsible for climate adaptation in their city. This is driving action: 95% of respondents are either taking steps to increase their resilience or plan to do so within the following year.

“This report offers a critical and timely perspective on how individuals understand the risks and implications of climate change in the present moment. Such insights are invaluable as they provide actionable intelligence about public perceptions and readiness to address and adapt to climate risks.”

The report also says that “the comprehensive analysis, based on a survey of 5,000 individuals across 10 global cities and enriched by insights from 15 experts, underscores a widespread belief that cities are underprepared to manage the multifaceted threats posed by climate change. The report identifies urgent vulnerabilities and challenges and highlights significant opportunities to enhance urban resilience.”

Read the full Economist Impact report: Resilience from the ground up: assessing city-level approaches to climate risk and adaptation.

View the report’s infographic by clicking the link: Infographic: Resilience from the ground up.