Several Asian cities have already invested in initiatives to build and promote Green Cities. Owing to the limited capacity of local governments, the funding of urban infrastructure has become a critical issue. Against this background, this book explores a new funding mechanism which demands the engagement of many stakeholders, including public-private partnerships. This book offers guidance on how cities in selected countries can play a key role in the green growth agenda, by stimulating growth through smart investment in urban infrastructure such as through building a physical infrastructure, offering financial and tax incentives, and heightening society’s awareness of a sustainable lifestyle.

This publication showcases 100 projects and programs of the Asian Development Bank, development partners, governments, and the private sector to support cities across Asia and the Pacific in addressing the challenges of climate change. The climate actions were drawn from multiple sectors—renewable energy, carbon finance, transport, land use, information and communication technology, climate action plans, building energy efficiency, solid waste management, sustainable and low-carbon communities, and climate resilience. The stories featured demonstrate how city-level initiatives contribute to reducing greenhouse gas emissions and building resilience, all while delivering economic, environmental, health, and social co-benefits.

In the face of increasingly serious resource and environmental challenges, the world has already accepted low-carbon development as the main way forward for future city construction. Chinese cities have encountered many problems during their development, including land constraints, energy shortages, traffic congestion and air pollution. For this reason, the national meeting of the Central Work Conference on Urbanization made the strategic decision to take a new approach to urbanization and indicated that in future the key features of urbanization in China will be low-carbon development and harmony between the environment and resources. This book discusses the "low-carbon city" as the new pattern of Chinese urbanization. This represents a major change and takes "intensive land use,” “intelligent,” “green” and “low carbon" as its key words. Low carbon will become an important future development direction for Chinese urbanization development. In the twenty-first Century in response to the global climate change, countries have started a wave of low-carbon city construction. But in China, there are still many disputes and misunderstandings surrounding the issue. Due to a lack of research, low-carbon city construction in China is still in the early stages, and while there have been successes, there have also been failures. There are complex and diverse challenges in applying low-carbon development methods in the context of today’s Chinese cities. The construction of low-carbon cities requires efficient government, the technological innovation of enterprises, and professional scholars, but also efforts on the part of the public to change their daily activities. Based on the above considerations, the collection brings together experts from urban planning and design, clean-energy systems, low-carbon transportation, new types of city infrastructure and smart cities etc., in the hope of forming some solutions for Chinese low-carbon city development.

This book explores how Asia's fast-growing cities can fulfil their potential as engines of economic prosperity and provide a livable environment for all citizens. But for this to happen, major challenges that reduce urban communities' quality of life and economic opportunities must be addressed. These include poor planning, a lack of affordable housing, inequalities, pollution, climate vulnerabilities, and urban infrastructure deficits. The book's 19 articles unwrap these challenges and present solutions focused on smart and inclusive planning, sustainable transport and energy, innovative financing, and resilience and rejuvenation.

This book provides best practices for decarbonizing cities in East Asia, in which buildings are the major contributor to carbon emissions. Beyond the global commitment through the Paris Agreement to make collective efforts on climate action and accelerated policies, investment and development at the country and city level to combat climate change are occurring at an unprecedented rate. Rapid urbanization and increasing energy demand for large and dense Asian cities require smart and sustainable strategies to balance development with decarbonization. A poly-centric approach is needed, where a combination of policy-, market- and technology-driven changes can aid the transition towards development of carbon neutral cities. With practical examples in the implementation of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, green financing, climate action roadmap and policy, deployment of renewable energy, and low- to zero-carbon buildings, readers can find the motivation, considerations and implementation pathways to facilitate the transition into the new normal. It is the hope of the authors to encourage readers to see successful pathways in transitioning into a carbon-free industry and overcoming the effects of climate extremes.

This book presents a blueprint for transforming East Asian cities to global engines of green growth by choosing energy efficient solutions for their infrastructure needs, with case studies in Cebu City (the Philippines), Da Nang (Vietnam), and Surabaya (Indonesia) illustrating the use of sustainable urban energy and emissions planning (SUEEP).

The continuing rapid growth and development of China's cities brings many complex challenges. Tasked with supporting strong economic development that provides jobs and a good quality of life for its growing number of residents, China's cities also must ensure sustainable development in line with national efforts to transition to a less carbon-intensive economy, as outlined in China's 12th Five-Year Plan. Sustainable Low-Carbon City Development in China summarizes, through the specific lens of low-carbon development, the lessons of the World Bank's activities related to sustainable urban development in China. The various chapters present overall approaches and achievements in low-carbon city developments and highlight specific experiences across all urban sectors, including energy, transport, solid waste, water, and waste water. The book also explores cities' role in climate adaptation and opportunities presented by carbon finance and other global mechanisms to finance low-carbon city development. The World Bank project data and experience combined with the national and international experience presented in this edited book deliver both a broad picture and actionable steps for China's urban development. The chapters argue that China's cities not only need to, but also have an opportunity and the ability to integrate sustainable low-carbon development in their urban development. Low-carbon efforts align closely with the sustainable urbanization agenda and the book points to multiple benefits, such as improved air quality and urban livability, that can be derived from implementing this urgent agenda. The intended audience of this edited book is government officials of municipalities, cities, and townships in China who will be defining policies and programs to achieve the targets of economic growth and carbon emission reductions emerging from the 12th Five-Year Plan. The lessons presented may also be of interest to other countries and development partners supporting low-carbon urban programs.