Climate of Crisis: How Cities Can Use Climate Action to Close the Equity Gap, Drive Economic Recovery, and Improve Public Health

The second of three reports to provide community leaders with guidance on navigating their climate action priorities.

How can cities meet the challenges of accelerating climate action in ways that aid economic recovery and improve the foundation of public health in the wake of COVID-19 while enhancing the quality of life for socially vulnerable populations?

In the second report of a series on city climate action, the Boston University Institute for Sustainable Energy (ISE), Innovation Network for Communities, and the BU Initiative on Cities support city and other local officials in their response to the events of 2020: the pandemic, a severe recession, a wave of social protest, and the ongoing imperative to respond to climate change.

We provide new insight into the cause and confluence of these stressors and suggest ways to blunt the short-term setbacks while simultaneously strengthening the foundation for sustained and equitable climate action that improves well-being for all. Our intentional focus on equity reveals many “win-win” opportunities across the economic, social, and environmental landscapes of cities.

City governments can seize the moment by treating climate change with the same urgency and resolve as the pandemic.

Read all the reports in this series>>

Authored by:

Cutler Cleveland, Associate Director, ISE, Professor, Department of Earth & Environment

Jacqueline Ashmore, Executive Director, ISE, Research Associate Professor, Departments of Mechanical Engineering and Earth & Environment

Ardeth Barnhart, Senior Research Consultant, ISE

Taylor Dudley, Research Assistant, ISE, Graduate Student, Questrom School of Business

Matthew Lillie, Research Assistant, ISE, Graduate Student, Questrom School of Business

Alicia Zhang, Research Assistant, ISE, Graduate Student, Department of Earth & Environment

Katharine Lusk, Co-Director, Boston University Initiative on Cities

Peter Plastrik and John Cleveland, Innovation Network for Communities