The future that fast-growing cities in South Asia and Africa choose — cleaner and safer, or dirtier and more dangerous — will be pivotal to efforts to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius, scientists said in a key U.N. report last week.
Iconic metropolises such as New York and London often grab headlines with their plans to cut air pollution, adopt electric transport, design green buildings or protect residents from floods.
But greater efforts are needed to make similar changes in developing-world cities, particularly as many smaller ones lack the knowledge and financial resources to do it, experts said.