This essay examines the topic of carbon-neutrality, focusing on the opportunities and challenges the cities face in the global transition toward this goal, particularly given that cities are one of the largest contributors of greenhouse gas emissions. Eloïse Deshayes delivered a series of classes based on extensive fieldwork and interviews conducted with stakeholders from various European countries. What resonated with me the most, despite the abundance of studies and actionable ideas in this field, is the numerous obstacles that continue to hinder practical implementation.
The Definition of Carbon Neutrality
Carbon neutrality is defined as reducing emissions the lowest possible and compensating or sequestrating the remaining emissions, but cities have different visions on how to approach this with a diversity of strategies and goals . Today, cities are responsible for the largest share of global greenhouse gas emissions, about 70% (United Nations, 2016), even though they cover only 2% of the Earth’s surface (Sodiq et al., 2019). This is mainly due to the concentration of firms and industries in one area, which has led to higher energy and resources usage. Therefore, cities are both a source of problems and a place for solutions.
The EU Mission for 100 Climate-Neutral and Smart Cities and the Global Covenant of Mayors are among the most prominent European and international initiatives related to urban climate action. These initiatives encourage local governments to develop long-term plans to identify the sources of emissions and determine ways to reduce or eliminate them in order to achieve carbon neutrality.
Two main approaches to account for GHG emissions were presented: the most used is the production-based carbon accounting (PBCA), which relates to all GHG emissions generated during the production of goods and services in a designated country or region, and the least employed approach, the consumption-based carbon accounting (CBCA), relates to emissions resulting from final consumption of goods and services. By focusing on PBCA, this means that emissions associated with consumption, particularly those embedded in imported goods and services, are not adequately considered.
As a result, current urban climate strategies address only part of the challenge, leaving a large share of cities’ actual carbon impacts unaddressed. Evidence from Millward-Hopkins shows that consumption-based emissions can be much higher than production-based emissions, highlighting a significant gap in current policy (Millward-Hopkins,2017).
The case of Bristol in the United Kingdom demonstrates that carbon emissions from imported and consumed goods are significantly higher than those from locally produced goods, with consumption-based emissions being almost three times higher than production-based emissions, primarily due to the consumption of food and other imported products.
(a)Historical baseline for Bristol’s consumption-based GHG emissions disaggregated into those occurring in the UK and those imported.(b)Consumption-based CO2 and GHG.
The Three Scopes of Carbon Emissions
Another approach to categorize emissions is the one of the three scopes. The first scope covers emissions that are being produced directly within city boundaries, such as those from local transport, buildings and industry. The second scope represents indirect emissions occurring due to the use of grid-supplied energy within the city, (for cooling or heating). The third scope includes emissions that occur outside city boundaries but are associated with consumption within the city, such as those from external transport and industrial activities.
GHG protocol for cities (World Resources Institute et al., 2014).
The Research led on Governance’s Barriers to Carbon Neutrality
Linking theory with practice made the lecture more insightful, as demonstrated by the research’s results of 67 interviews conducted with 34 cities and 18 countries. City practitioners accounted for 73% of the interview’s findings. The remaining 27% came from other stakeholders, such as city networks, research centers, universities and European projects. These interviews revealed that the obstacles were not primarily technical, but rather due to a lack of skills and human resources, in addition to a significant gap between planning and actual implementation.
Governance’s Barriers to Carbon Neutrality
Interestingly, the challenges were not only related to citizen resistance to change or technological limitations but were also political and organizational in nature. Several barriers hinder cities’ ability to achieve carbon neutrality, stemming from complex structural and operational challenges. Chief among these are the fragmentation of responsibilities within municipal authorities, the lack of coordination between different departments, and the weak alignment between local and national policies, as well as the slow pace of administrative procedures. Additionally, societal resistance to change, driven by fear of altering established lifestyles and a lack of trust between citizens and decision-makers, further impedes progress (NetZeroCities,2022).
Financial struggles are also significant barriers as cities struggle with long-term and stable funding for climate action. Many climate departments don’t have sufficient permanent budgets and rely significantly on temporary European project funds, which focus on research or pilot projects rather than real on ground implementation. This makes it hard to hire permanent staff or scale small initiatives into full citywide policies. Indeed , EU projects often create pilot projects, small initiatives, but rarely allow the development of holistic and city-wide policies to control or reduce emissions, leaving cities without the resources needed to turn strategies into lasting action.
In addition, they struggle to effectively use EU funds due to mismatches with local needs, one example also showed that potential delay to receive funding, due to bureaucratic steps or political issues, can lead to reduced value of the initial funding due to inflation. Moreover, the lack of reliable and easily accessible data remains a major problem, making planning and tracking progress difficult.
Conclusion
In summary, Eloïse Deshayes’ lectures and field research highlighted that cities, despite being central to the global transition toward carbon neutrality face major challenges in achieving carbon neutrality. The main obstacles for cities are plurifold and stem from financial, administrative, and organizational barriers. Most cities suffer from insufficient funding, high initial project costs, weak capacity for private investment, as well as slow procedures, complex regulations, and fragmented responsibilities within institutions. Additionally, many cities lack the skilled personnel and expertise necessary to develop fully investment-ready projects, creating a clear gap between proposed plans and actual implementation.
Reflection of the author
From my perspective, cities require long-term and stable funding to hire qualified personnel, expand pilot projects, and implement policies that account for both production and consumption emissions. In addition, enhancing coordination between local and national priorities is essential. A notable example is Copenhagen’s integrated approach to achieving carbon neutrality, which relies on a comprehensive and actionable climate plan emphasizing coordination across different urban sectors rather than fragmented efforts. The city has focused on a broad transition to renewable energy, particularly wind power. Furthermore, Copenhagen has supported the implementation of its plan through innovative financing models, effective public-private partnerships, and active community engagement in the transition, all of which have contributed to narrowing the gap between policy and practice (City of Copenhagen, 2012).
Reference list
Sodiq, A., Baloch, A. A. B., Khan, S. A., Sezer, N., Mahmoud, S., Jama, M., & Abdelaal, A. (2019). Towards modern sustainable cities: Review of sustainability principles and trends. Journal of Cleaner Production, 227, 972–1001. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2019.04.106
Millward-Hopkins, J., Gouldson, A., Scott, K., Barrett, J., & Sudmant, A. (2017).
Uncovering blind spots in urban carbon management: the role of consumption-based carbon accounting in Bristol, UK.Regional Environmental Change, 17(5), 1467–1478.
https://doi.org/10.1007/s10113-017-1112-x
Liakou, L., Flanagan, B., Altman, N., Rendle, N., Kiernicka-Allavena, J., Wildman, A., Heyder, M., Gresset, S., Diaz, A., Castañeda, M., Ancelle, A., Johansson, H., Titley, R., & Holmberg, L. (2021). Report on city needs, drivers and barriers towards climate neutrality. NetZeroCities. https://netzerocities.eu/
Damsø, T., Kjær, T., & Christensen, T. B. (2017). Implementation of local climate action plans: Copenhagen – Towards a carbon-neutral capital. Journal of Cleaner Production, 167, 406–415 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2017.08.156
By Aala Al Hinai
Student at UIC Barcelona
Urban Resilience for Sustainability Transitions Master’s Programme (2025-2026)