The “Science to Action” plenary session is dedicated to the critical role of urban climate science, with a specific focus on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)’s Special Report on Climate Change and Cities. The discussion will also explore the parallel development of the Global Research and Action Agenda (GRAA) leading up to, during, and after the Special Report on Climate Change and Cities. Bringing together a high-level panel of IPCC authors and city practitioners, this session will critically examine the difficulty in understanding local context in global climate science, and how practitioner voice is critical to this, and in the uptake of new understanding of the role and influence of cities in climate change science.
The plenary will investigate why transformative findings are frequently diluted, delayed, or reframed by political processes, and the subsequent impact of this friction on urban climate mitigation and resilience pathways. The session will then showcase the latest breakthroughs in climate science and evaluate how these innovations are redefining urban policy and practice. Furthermore, the discussion will address global scientific debates while confronting the systemic barriers that stall the implementation of science-backed solutions.
