Intermediate Reading Practice: Need Strategies to

Clear the Air? Ask a Megacity.

Image by jplenio from Pixabay is under the Pixabay license

THE CAUSES OF CLIMATE CHANGE

Much of the world’s air pollution comes from large cities. This pollution can be carried thousands of miles away. It
affects the health and livelihoods of people who live far away from large cities. City governments around the world
are developing new strategies to control air pollution.

The C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group is a group of 96 cities around the world. They share ideas and resources
for solving environmental problems common to many cities. The C40 says that air pollution is the most important
shared environmental problem.

The C40 works to support projects to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in 17 cities. These projects aim to reduce
emissions from transportation, energy generation, and waste disposal (throwing things away). The projects use a
variety of high- and low-tech approaches. Examples of C40 projects include the following: planting more trees and
putting gardens on roofs, requiring low-emissions vehicles and fuels, increasing efficient, sustainable energy
production.

R E D U C I N G E M IS S I O N S F R O M T H E G R O U N D U P

Photo by CHUTTERSNAP on Unsplash under Unsplash license

© 2021 by FHI 360. "Intermediate Reading Practice: Need Strategies to Clear the Air? Ask a Megacity" for
the Online Professional English Network (OPEN), sponsored by the U.S. Department of State with funding
provided by the U.S. government and administered by FHI 360. This work is an adaptation of “Need
Strategies to Clear the Air? Ask a Megacity” by Lea Terhune / ShareAmerica licensed under public domain / 1
U.S. Government Works. Adapted content is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License,
except where noted. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
 The goal is ambitious: creating cities that are "net carbon-negative". To be net carbon-negative, a city must do two
things. It must reduce existing atmospheric carbon dioxide and offset new emissions. "To offset" means to balance
out, counteract, or neutralize.

A city can offset its carbon emissions in two ways. They can capture the greenhouse gases they emit. Or, they can
use credits for emissions eliminated elsewhere.

Tomas Gustafson is a sustainability advisor to the city of Stockholm, Sweden, a member of the C40. He says that
smart, low-carbon solutions are a practical way to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. An example of a low-carbon
solution is solar power. Solar power produces energy with far lower carbon dioxide emissions than fossil fuels.

The C40 monitors projects from beginning to end in clearly defined phases. Mahindra World City was the first
Asian city to complete phase 2. Mahindra World City is in Jaipur, India. It is a partnership between Mahindra Group
and the government of the state of Rajasthan. Mahindra group is a large multinational corporation. Mahindra
World City is a newly constructed city. It combines residential (living), commercial (business), and other needs into
a single, sustainable environment. By 2025, it will house and employ almost 300,000.

Other C40 projects have also reached the second phase. These include projects in Sydney and Melbourne,
Australia; Sønderborg, Denmark; London, UKI and Oberlin, Ohio, in the United States.

C O L L A B O R A T I N G T O G ET I T R I G H T

Image by (Joenomias) Menno de Jong from Pixabay is under Pixabay license

Every city requires its own specific solutions. Through the C40 network, each city receives support. The C40 also
analyzes each city's solutions and approaches. They carefully review and evaluate these solutions. The C40 looks
for strategies that can be replicated in different settings. They share these in the C40 network so that other cities
can try the same approaches.

Mahindra World City is an example of a brand new C40 city. From the beginning, it was built to be net carbon-
negative. Other cities such as London, Mexico City, and Delhi, India are very old. These older cities must work to
retrofit old neighborhoods. Retrofitting is the process of adding new technology or features to an old system.
Older C40 cities must do two things at once. They must retrofit their old neighborhoods and also develop new,
sustainable ones.

The C40 facilitates partnerships for creating zero-emissions cities. It also maintains databases of case studies and
an interactive open-data portal. Open access to data allows the cities to collaborate and learn from each other.