Editing IPCC:AR6/WGII/Chapter-6 (section)

=== FAQ 6.4 | How can actions that reduce climate risks in cities and settlements also help to reduce urban poverty, enhance economic performance and contribute to climate mitigation? ===

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''If carefully planned, adaptation actions can reduce exposure to climate risk and reduce urban poverty, advance sustainable development and mitigate greenhouse gas emissions. When adaptation responses are equitable, and if a range of voices are heard in the planning process, the needs of the disadvantaged are more likely to be addressed and wider societal benefits can be maximised.''

Urbanisation is a global trend which is interacting with climate change to create complex risks in cities and settlements, especially for those that already have high levels of poverty, unemployment, housing informality and backlogs of services. Many cities and settlements are seeing increasing action to manage climate risks. On top of reducing communities’ exposure to climate risk, adaptation actions can have benefits for reducing urban poverty and enhancing economic performance in ways that reduce inequality and advance sustainability goals. Adaptation actions, however, can also have unintended consequences. That is why care needs to be taken to ensure climate adaptation planning and development of new infrastructure does not exacerbate inequality or negatively impact other sustainable development priorities. Climate adaptation planning is most effective when it is sensitive to the diverse ways that low-income and minority communities are more ''likely'' to experience climate risk, including women, children, migrants, refugees, internally displaced peoples and racial/ethnic minority groups, among others.

Adapting to climate change can have benefits for reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and urban inequalities. In cities where growing numbers of people live in informal settlements, introducing risk-reducing physical infrastructure such as piped water, sanitation and drainage systems can enhance the quality of life of the community. At the same time, those measures can increase health outcomes and reduce urban inequalities by reducing exposure to flooding or heat impacts. In less developed countries, less than 60% of the urban population have access to piped water which, in turn, impacts their health and well-being. Increasingly, housing is being built better to manage heat risk through insulation or changing building orientation, or to flood risk by raising structures, which then contributes to well-being and ability to work. Improvements to early warning systems can help people evacuate rapidly in case of storm surges or flooding. Although the most vulnerable often do not get these warnings in time.

Carefully planned nature-based solutions (NbS), such as public green space, improved urban drainage systems and storm water management, can deliver both health and development benefits. When these adaptation actions succeed, water, waste and sanitation can be improved to better manage climate risk and provide households and cities with better services. Many nature-based solutions entail bringing back plants and trees into cities, which also helps to reduce the concentration of heat-trapping GHGs in the atmosphere.

When care is taken to ensure that adaptation responses are equitable, and that a range of voices are heard in planning, the needs of the disadvantaged are more likely to be addressed. For example, a study that looked at transport plans across 40 cities in Portugal saw that some urban communities have prioritised the needs of disadvantaged users such as the elderly and disabled, while at the same time reducing urban transport emissions and enhancing public well-being and equity of transport. On the other hand, in some cities, there is evidence of emerging trade-offs associated with climate adaptation actions where sea walls and temporary flood barriers were erected in economically valuable areas and not is less well-off areas. Going forward, it is important to ensure that vulnerable groups’ needs are carefully considered, both in terms of climate and other risks, as this has not been sufficiently done in the past.

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