The main goal of the CitiesIPCC campaign and the IPCC Co-Sponsored Cities and Climate Change Science conference was to engage the scientific community in the next frontier of research focused on the science of cities and climate change. One of the primary mechanisms to inspire this research is the Research and Action Agenda which is being produced as one of the primary outputs of the conference. The Global Research and Action Agenda on Cities and Climate Change Science was presented to the IPCC Panel as part of the Progress Report- International Conference on Climate Change and Cities during the 48th IPCC Plenary on Oct 1st2018, in Incheon Korea. The Progress Report, inclusive of the Research and Action Agenda was noted by the Panel.
The conference Scientific Steering Committee (SSC), with support from partner organisations, compiled and synthesised input from all conference plenaries, parallel sessions, posters, pre-conference commissioned papers, and discussions during the conference, regarding knowledge gaps and key recommendations. Directly after the conference, the SSC held a two-day workshop to begin analysing and reviewing information which came out of the conference. There they developed the outline for the research and action agenda, and writing teams were formed around the topics identifies in the outline. Recognizing gaps in expertise within the Scientific Steering Committee, several conference participants were invited to lead four of the writing teams. The SSC held a second workshop in Mexico City in June, where with support from partner organisations they prepared the first draft of the Research and Action Agenda.
This draft was shared with all conference participants, during a two-week consultation period. The SSC received 234 comments from 49 conference participants. After receiving these comments, the SSC and support team finalized the Research and Action Agenda. This draft was shared with the IPCC Secretariat as part of the Progress Report – International Conference on Climate Change and Cities, and was made available as an Inf doc for the IPCC’s 48th Plenary.
The agenda is broken into three sections, Crosscutting issues and knowledge gaps, Key topical knowledge gaps and Delivering on the Research and Action Agenda: Approaches to strengthen the science, practice and policy interface. The topics covered under these sections are illustrated in the first below, with the Crosscutting issues and knowledge gaps found in the orange inner circle, the Key topical knowledge gaps forming six pie pieces in the middle circle, and the Approaches to strengthen the science, practice and policy interface in the outer circle, in green. A short and long version of the agenda are available, the short version highlighting the key findings, and the long version elaborating on these findings.
This Research and Action Agenda is meant to be representative of conference discussions relating to progress which can be made to develop further knowledge on cities and climate change with the science, policy and practice communities. The Organising Committee and Scientific Steering Committee invite all those working to address climate change in cities to take up and build from this Research and Action Agenda, integrating perspectives of their constituencies, and tailor the findings from this Conference to the contexts of different cities.