2.3. Urban Climate and Global Climate Change

The changes in urban Climate are strongly linked to global climate change. As centres for socio- economic activities, cities produce large amounts of Green House Gases, most notably CO2 as a consequence of human activities such as transport, development (e.g. concrete production), and waste related to heating and cooling requirements etc. cities are the top consumer of energy produced largely through fossil fuels.

Many cities are vulnerable to the projected consequences of climate change (sea level rise, changes in temperature, precipitation, storm frequency) as most develop on or near coast-lines, nearly all produce distinct urban heat islands and atmospheric pollution.