Harnessing deep mitigation opportunities of urbanisation patterns in LDCs

Cities offer enormous opportunities for climate action that would limit the temperature increase to 1.5 °C by 2100 above pre-industrial levels. For example, cities can act through planning and service delivery, bringing together residential, work and leisure in single spaces, and creating better connectivity between areas within and between cities. In Least Developed Countries (LDCs) cities offer multiple opportunities for low carbon innovations given that so much of the cities in LDCs are yet to be built and serviced. The development of high carbon strategies, on the other hand, poses the danger of long-term carbon lock-in and narrows the existing window of opportunity to act. This paper explores the low carbon opportunities and avoided future emissions that cities in LDCs can implement as part of their mitigation pathways. The paper makes the case that deep mitigation efforts in the context of LDCs will need to take place within the broader agenda of sustainable development, poverty reduction, and equity. Examples of transport, energy and low carbon urbanism are discussed as evidence that climate-resilient development, consistent with the 1.5 °C pathway, is already underway in some LDCs.