| dc.description.abstract | Cities are the future. Nearly half the population of the world lives in cities and this trend is set to continue in the years to come (Balha et al., 2020; van der Heijden, 2019). Cities are a major contributor to climate change but also face the consequences most severely (van der Heijden, 2019). However, at the same time, cities are widely considered to have the best potential to adapt and mitigate climate change (IPCC, 2018). They join city networks or Transnational Municipal Networks (TMNs) to reduce emissions at local level and respond to climate change by setting ambitious targets and taking impactful actions to reduce their local emissions. There are two approaches to account for a cities’ emissions: production-based and consumption-based. This study focuses on consumption-based emissions which provides a more complete overview of a city’s climate impact.
One of the biggest sources of urban consumption-based emissions is the food sector (C40 et al., 2019). The C40 Good Food Cities Declaration is selected as an initiative for cities to mitigate these emissions through Consumption-based targets (CBTs). The declaration is only signed by 14 of the 94 C40 cities to promote planetary health diet by 2030, which begs the question of the different influences that act on C40 cities. To understand the reasons behind the influences, first the CBTs set by the cities so far were described. Then, the enabling factors that a city needs to set the CBTs and carry out climate action was explored by comparing 28 cities and validating the data with case studies.
The findings highlight that the CBTs set so far focus mainly on waste, health and climate. To promote more food-related consumption emissions policies, one should use the important agendas that the cities are concerned with at the moment as key entry points. A motivated local champion, horizontal and vertical coordination through collaboration with stakeholders, and acquiring the city-network’s benefits are three enabling factors that the data suggested to be important for the adoption of CBTs. Additional factors that were highlighted through interviews are the resource capacity of the city and the recognition of the food-climate nexus. Nonetheless, even with the most desirable conditions to enable target setting, commitment to the cause is not guaranteed. Therefore, knowledge and motivation are crucial first steps in enabling engagement and commitment for future cities adopting CBTs. | |
