URCM Initiative

What is URCM?

URCM addresses some of the most fundemental scientific issues related to carbon management:

  • How do urbanization and the global carbon cycle interact globally through population, affluence, energy and other biophysical and socio-economic mechanisms?
  • How can we quantify current and past carbon emissions/sinks in cities and regions? What are the future scenarios of decarbonized urban and regional development?
  • What configurations of underlying and proximate drivers (geography, socio-economic factors, historical legacies/trajectories etc.) explain the differences in carbon trajectories of cities?
  • What international strategies will best support carbon mitigation and adaptation in cities?
    • What are the possible synergies and trade-offs between mitigation and adaptation measures in urban and regional development?
    • What are the roles of the institutions and carbon governance structures in sound urban and regional carbon management?
  • How can low-carbon urban development enhance resilience of communities in the face of climate change and other increasing uncertainties and complexities?
  • What are the key indicators of a low-carbon, climate-resilient urban environment? How can these indicators be incorporated into an integrated assessment model that could facilitate progress toward an urban environment featuring such characteristics?
sciencescenarios

Implementation of URCM

  • Synthesizing studies to provide a comprehensive and holistic policy relevant picture of urban and regional carbon management
  • Facilitating the initiation of pioneering research within the URCM framework where major gaps exist
  • Organizing conferences and workshops to build a scientific community for URCM
  • Bringing scientific understanding to policy discussions through science-policy dialogue
  • Developing partnerships with other scientific and policy communities
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Pamphlet

URCM Pamphlet 2014

Events

The GCP Tsukuba International Office organizes seminars, workshops and symposiums on URCM-related topics, bringing together researchers, experts and policy makers to share the latest findings, discuss issues, and build and strengthen the networks.