On the impact of urbanisation on CO2 emissions

Abstract We use a globally consistent, time-resolved data set of CO 2 emission proxies to quantify urban CO 2 emissions in 91 cities. We decompose emission trends into contributions from changes in urban extent, population density and per capita emission. We find that urban CO 2 emissions are increasing everywhere but that the dominant contributors differ according to development level. A cluster analysis of factors shows that developing countries were dominated by cities with the rapid area and per capita CO 2 emissions increases. Cities in the developed world, by contrast, show slow area and per capita CO 2 emissions growth. China is an important intermediate case with rapid urban area growth combined with…

• UO
  University of Melbourne
• OR
  Oak Ridge National Laboratory