Systemic Risk Assessment for Resilient Urban Decarbonisation - How can deep uncertainty and systemic risk be incorporated in efforts to accelerate towards climate neutral cities?

Cities stand at the frontline of the climate challenge.

Significantly reducing greenhouse gas emissions while adapting to the effects of climate change requires robust strategies that take into account complex interrelationships and deep uncertainties.

In this project, methods from the family of systemic risk analysis (SRA) are developed to identify and manage systemic risk associated to cities´ decarbonisation efforts.

The project focuses on the overarching questions:How can SRA support city decision-makers to build resilience into their climate mitigation measures?By doing so the project will also explores how adding a systemic risk perspective to the climate mitigation work in cities can contribute to integrating cities´ mitigation and adaptation agendas.Through case studies in Umeå and Madrid, two cities with ambitious climate neutrality goals, the project explores, in collaboration with city actors, how SRA can be used to navigate risks in the cities´ climate mitigation efforts.

By developing a systemic risk atlas for climate-neutral cities, the project results and learnings can be disseminated to other cities through the networks for climate-neutral cities that the project collaborates with - Viable Cities in Sweden, CitiES2030 in Spain – and through associated European networks.The project´s goal is to provide valuable new knowledge and tools to cities that can help them strengthen the viability of their climate neutrality strategies in a deeply uncertain future.