Today, there are approximately 700 million people living in cities. While cities are increasing economic growth globally, they consume 80% of global energy and are responsible for 70% of greenhouse gas emissions. Economic growth has caused millions of people to be lifted from poverty as well as caused an increase in rural-to-urban migration. This growth is generating vast amounts of waste and pollution and threatening cities' biodiversity. Cities leave a large carbon footprint that is threatening natural resources required to sustain economic growth and poverty alleviation rates. Currently, cities are struggling with environmental degradation, traffic congestion, urban infrastructure, and water and waste management. If cities don’t figure out a way to handle these problems, then the earth can become more polluted than it already is and lots of life and biodiversity will be lost. By 2050, it is estimated that 70% of the global population will be living in cities. Currently, cities are working to create sustainable consumption and production roadmaps for cities, along with upstream interventions to reduce and manage pollution and waste. But to create a major change in our ecosystem, cities must create sustainable transportation and buildings to lower the amount of greenhouse gases they are responsible for. As well as lower their carbon infrastructure and find nature-based solutions for sustainability. Many don’t realize how the planet they live on is slowly dying because of human activities, but there is still time to try and make a difference.

Sources: https://www.unep.org/regions/asia-and-p … ble-cities, https://www.thegef.org/what-we-do/topic … ble-cities