New Report: “Findings From Innovate4Cities 2021 and Update to the Global Research and Action Agenda”

Informing research, policy, and public discussions on the global research and action agenda for cities and climate change science

From May 10-13, 2022, the city of Malmö, Sweden hosted the ICLEI World Congress 2021-2022 , a series of events where local and regional governments convened to showcase how they are advancing sustainable urban development around the world. The new Findings from Innovate4Cities 2021 and Update to the Global Research and Action Agenda report was officially launched during the Research and Innovation component of the conference, as part of the discussions about the most relevant and pressing issues in urban sustainability. This report serves as an update to the 2018 Global Research Action Agenda on Cities and Climate Change Science (GRAA) , the primary output of CitiesIPCC Cities and Climate Change Science Conference held in Edmonton, Canada in 2018, an important forum that SDSN co-organized with several other organizations focused on the science of cities and climate change. Following the CitiesIPCC conference, the Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate and Energy launched the Innovate4Cities initiative to build on the findings of the conference and resulting GRAA by accelerating city climate action through research and innovation. In addition to participating in the CitiesIPCC conference in 2018, SDSN has also contributed to the development of this new update to the GRAA.

The new report draws on the latest understanding on cities climate change science presented at the Innovate4Cities 2021 conference, which expands on the 2018 Cities and Climate Change Science conference’s GRAA. The report highlights key research gaps and priorities, provides a regional analysis of research and innovation needs to accelerate city climate action, and also offers new and more action-oriented insights on ways to advance the implementation of appropriate climate responses in cities at the scale and speed required. All of these findings are intended to inform urban researchers, practitioners, and decision-makers about the different ways they can promote more integrated and holistic climate change mitigation and adaptation research and action.

To learn more, please access the full report here. For more information about SDSN’s related work, see our Sustainable Cities thematic network page here and Climate & Energy program page here.