EMBARGOED—NOT FOR PUBLIC RELEASE BEFORE:
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Tuesday, January 13, 2015
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Complete list of articles expected to publish in PNAS the week of January 12:
<http://www.eurekalert.org/jrnls/pnas/subject.htm>
IMPORTANT NOTE: The articles listed below will publish on Monday, January 12,
2015. All other articles will publish throughout the week as soon as final corrections
are made; therefore, the exact date of publication is not scheduled in advance. Please
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
Climate change mitigation potential of urban centers
The structure of urban centers may influence the rate at which energy consumption and
greenhouse gas emissions increase in the coming decades, according to a study in the
Industrial Ecology: The Role of Manufactured Capital for Sustainability Special Feature.
Cities consume a higher proportion of global energy supplies and generate a higher
proportion of carbon emissions than rural areas, and therefore may have the greatest
potential to mitigate emissions. Felix Creutzig and colleagues examined energy consumption
and greenhouse gas emissions data for 274 cities in 60 countries that vary in size and
comprise 21% of the global urban population to determine the attributes of a city that
influence energy consumption. The authors found that greenhouse gas emissions are most
strongly influenced by a non-linear combination of economic activity, population density, and
gasoline prices, with high emissions cities displaying high economic activity, low population
density, low fuel prices, and a high number of days required to supply heat to buildings,
compared with low emissions cities. Based on current population growth trends, the authors
predict that energy use in urban environments will triple by 2050. However, strategies of
urban planning and fuel price increases may slow the rate of energy usage in growing cities,
especially rapidly growing cities in the developing world, reducing the predicted increase to
2.25-fold. According to the authors, the results suggest that cities in developing nations
might offer the greatest opportunities for slowing energy use and mitigating emissions.
Article #13-15545: “Global typology of urban energy use and potentials for an urbanization
mitigation wedge,” by Felix Creutzig, Giovanni Baiocchi, Robert Bierkandt, Peter-Paul
Pichler, and Karen C. Seto.
MEDIA CONTACT: Felix Creutzig, Mercator Research Institute on Global Commons and
Climate Change, Berlin, GERMANY; tel: +49 174 9054105; e-mail: <creutzig@mccberlin.net>
http://www.eurekalert.org/jrnls/pnas/13-15545.htm