China’s role in tackling global warming and air pollution, one of the world’s largest environmental health risks, is critical. As the largest source of emissions, cities play an outsized role in generating GHG but also in developing and implementing solutions to peak emissions and ultimately bring them to zero.  In order to do so, cities in China and throughout the globe must decouple economic growth and prosperity from carbon and from pollution, thereby realizing sustainable and equitable development.  

The Institute for Sustainable Communities (ISC) convened an English-language webinar with Chinese and international thought leaders to reflect on the urban climate achievements of USAID’s Low Emissions Cities Alliance. In this session, we shared our results in supporting the development of emissions peaking roadmaps across China, and we then explored how these roadmaps offer critical building blocks for realizing China’s 2060 carbon neutrality pledge, including a discussion about the most promising pathways for the cities across the globe to achieve their net-zero climate ambition.