He's been busy gathering data on what cities around the globe are actually doing to mitigate and adapt to climate change, and now Boyd Cohen, CEO of CO2 IMPACT, a carbon origination company based in Vancouver, Canada and Bogota, Colombia, and Co-Author of “Climate Capitalism”, presents one of the first ever global rankings of “Resilient Cities” and ranks Copenhagen top of class!

Resilient Cities, according to Mr. Cohen, are those that are working to transition towards a low-carbon economy while also preparing to avert the worst of climate change – and they are gaining interest and attention from policy makers, city councils and others worldwide.

Cities account for up to 80% of GHG emissions globally and are home to more than 50% of the world’s population (headed to 60%, 5 billion people by 2030). As a consequence, Mr. Cohen argues that if we refocus our efforts on the right solutions soon enough, we can mitigate the worst of climate change while actually improving our city economies and growing corporate profits.

Copenhagen, Denmark: Top of Class!
It can’t be much of a surprise that Copenhagen, where some 40% of its citizens cycle to work, scores the number one posting in this first ever ranking of Resilient Cities. Copenhagen is the only city obtaining a perfect score on political commitment, but that’s not all. Copenhagen tied Curitiba in Brazil with the lowest per capita emissions and also sets the global standard by seeking to be the first major capital city world-wide to achieve carbon neutrality by 2025. The City Council of Copenhagen does have some work to do on its adaptation planning, however, but does score second in this ranking for parks/capita.

Together with co-author Hunter Lovins, Mr. Cohen also recently published the book “Climate Capitalism: Capitalism in the Age of Climate Change” to share stories of cities and companies around the world who are, in fact, profiting from that transition to the low carbon economy. More about the “Resilient Cities” ranking here