The economic model as a tool is a fundamental part of the Climate City Contracts, and it is something that has been worked with each city in a particular way, with a tailor-made approach.

Why Economic Case Analysis for City Decarbonisation is crucial?

Cities have a clear and fundamental role to play in addressing the climate emergency and achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Many are working hard to decarbonise, but face significant challenges due to inertia in existing systems, pre-existing policy environments, and limited budgets. A key obstacle is the seemingly high cost of reshaping key CO2-emitting sectors in the city, from transport, to buildings, to the power supply, as well as challenges in understanding who needs to pay and who stands to benefit. This makes decision-makers hesitant to pursue change. However, many recent global reports show clear economic opportunities in decarbonisation that are often attractive for multiple reasons, including improved public health and other co-benefits. The problem for city leaders is how to translate those analyses, which are often generic, into estimates of the economics of change for individual cities.

To help cities analyse the economic implications of specific climate actions, we have developed a tool to enable cities to build their intelligence on potentially effective climate actions to reduce emissions and secure a more resilient future.

The analyses made with the tool can help city decision-makers and stakeholders deepen their understanding of the economic impact of available decarbonisation options, identifying the initiatives that are likeliest to have a significant economic return to society, and quantifying the potential cost. The findings are useful across a city’s whole policy development cycle, from developing a baseline, to prioritisation and decision support, to execution and validation of projects.

List of resources:

Economic Case for Decarbonization -​ Process and model scope / methodology​ presentation (32 pages, PPT slides)

Economic Case for Decarbonization Tutorial (14 slides, PPT format)

Economic Model Methodology: technical detailed presentation (52 slides, pdf format)

Co-benefits for net-zero cities detailed explanation of co-benefits, supporting the economic case for decarbonization (37 slides, pdf format)

Understanding the Economic Case for Decarbonising Cities: 66-page document on Why Economic Case Analysis for City Decarbonisation is Crucial