Skip to content

City Climate Intelligence: Addressing the Urban Emissions Information Gap

How a new, near-real-time GHG estimation methodology can help cities monitor, analyze, and act on emissions data.

Jump to Section

More than ever, local governments are committing to bold and ambitious greenhouse gas emissions reductions. Although setting targets is an important first step in the fight against climate change, cities find it hard to mitigate what they cannot estimate.

To support these local efforts, Carbon Monitor, Hestia, IG3IS, NEXQT, and RMI collaborated to develop City Climate Intelligence (CCI). CCI is the world’s first near-real-time, high-resolution urban greenhouse gas monitoring methodology that combines local data sets and advanced analytics to deliver better emissions data awareness and insights.

The CCI methodology analyzes emissions information at three spatial scales: Tier 1 (the metropolitan area level), Tier 2 (the neighborhood level), and Tier 3 (the building and street level). The insights generated by CCI can support a cycle of awareness, action, and accountability that engages everyone involved in the city climate ecosystem. The CCI methodology and data are intended to be used by anyone who contributes to this collaborative cycle, including city managers, community-based organizations, citizens, journalists, the climate finance community, and others. This framework provides a foundation for understanding local climate progress.

The City Climate Intelligence: Addressing the Urban Greenhouse Gas Emissions Information Gap report explains how and why we developed the CCI methodology, shows how communities and local governments can leverage its insights, and provides case studies of how cities can leverage CCI data in their work.

How City Climate Intelligence (CCI) Uses an Integrated Bottom-Up and Top-Down Approach to Estimate Urban Greenhouse Gas Emissions

How City Climate Intelligence (CCI) Uses an Integrated Bottom-Up and Top-Down Approach to Estimate Urban Greenhouse Gas Emissions

Interested in additional CCI resources or case studies? Check out these resources:

About the Authors

Zach Clayton

Zach Clayton

Associate
Rushad Nanavatty

Rushad Nanavatty

Managing Director

Fiona O’Brien

Help build the clean energy future. Donate today.

Independent research. Real-world solutions. Supported by donors.

RMI can pursue the highest-impact climate and energy solutions because we’re supported by people who believe change is possible. Every gift helps advance the work needed to make clean energy the default choice worldwide.

For other ways to give to RMI, including checks or gifts of stock, please visit Other Ways to Give.