Climate change, housing are cities' top challenges ahead of European election, mayors say - POLITICO Europe
Climate change, housing are cities’ top challenges ahead of European election, mayors say - POLITICO
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As Europe heads to the polls, the Continent’s local leaders say that climate change and housing are the most important issues facing their constituencies.
The latest Eurocities Pulse Mayors Survey— conducted in the months leading up to June’s European Parliament election and shared exclusively with POLITICO’s Living Cities— polled 92 mayors in 28 European countries.
Related Knowledge Center: Climate economics
Climate change is now a driver of the world’s economy. The impact is profound:
- Catastrophic weather events — hurricanes, floods, droughts, high temperatures — are more frequent and more extreme. The cost can be measured in both the initial damage caused and the longer-term impact on the economy.
- Vulnerable communities are increasing climate-related investments, hardening infrastructure and taking other protective measures.
- Investment in carbon capture and storage technologies is increasingly rapidly.
- Governments are making investments and crafting regulations to reduce emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases.
On top of all of this is the cost of uncertainty. As the Fourth National Climate Assessment, released in 2018 by the U.S. Global Change Research Program, says, “The assumption that current and future climate conditions will resemble the recent past is no longer valid.”