The UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has just published its latest climate change report. Available here. As a follow-up to this report, Dezeen spoke with Hélène Chartier of the sustainable urbanism network C40 Cities. And she makes some very good points about the importance of cities in combatting climate change.

In fact, she goes so far as to say that sustainable living is only really possible, at scale, in cities. Because to live a more sustainable lifestyle, you need the right kind of infrastructure in place. And to have the right kind of infrastructure in place, you need density.

This crucial point is often forgotten (though never on this blog). If you are truly concerned about climate change, then you should be for urban density. And if you are out there fighting against urban density, then your actions are undermining this global imperative.

Chartier rightly points out that "architects have a huge responsibility" when it comes to addressing climate change. And this is entirely true. Their job is the built environment. But with all due respect to architects, the problems that need solving are ultimately much broader. Architects can only do so much if they're hamstrung by dumb land use policies and angry neighbors, among other things.

This needs to be a coordinated effort. We all have a huge responsibility.

Photo by Kaspars Upmanis on Unsplash

I have long been interested in the possible relationships between climate and economy. Because my unproven hypothesis is that, given the choice, most city dwellers would probably prefer to hang out on Ipanema beach and drink caipirinhas in the sun than sit in a windowless cube farm toiling away on cover pages for TPS reports.

Well it turns out that there is some science to support this theory. A 2012 study by professors at Harvard and the University of North Carolina did in fact discover that people tend to work a little harder and focus a bit more when the weather is crappy outside and they're not distracted by the promise of glorious sunshine.

This Scientific American article from 2013 also argued that there are physiological reasons for why we're maybe not as sharp in extremely warm weather. The possible science is that excessive heat is more taxing on our body (compared to the cold) and so more energy is required to maintain homeostasis. That leaves less mental capacity for TPS cover pages.

Of course, these sorts of ideas aren't all that novel. For centuries, economists as well as many others have posited that climate could be one of the reasons why geographies like northern Europe have historically had a higher standard of living than the south. It instilled work ethic and an awareness of deadlines. If you didn't plan accordingly, you would starve to death in the winter.

But we also know that climate alone won't do it. There are many examples of tropical cities with advanced economies and high-functioning societies. (The invention of air conditioning surely played a meaningful role.) And on the flipside, there are many examples of cold shitholes. So it's complicated. But all this being said, doesn't a caipirinha on the beach sound nice right about now?

Photo by TAIS HELENA DE CARVALHO on Unsplash

At the beginning of this year, I predicted that we would see the price of carbon continue to rise, and in particular the price of EU carbon permits. Well the year is still young but so far the opposite has been happening. Back in January, the price of EU carbon permits were hovering around €80 per tonne. Since Russia bullied its way into Ukraine at the end of February, this market has corrected and now hovers around €66 per tonne. Generally carbon prices tend to increase alongside energy prices, but the opposite dynamic is happening right now because of all of this geopolitical uncertainty. But over the long-term, I don't believe that this will remain true. So this feels like possible mispricing to me. Climate change may be a relatively less important issue in Europe right now, but it's not going away.

Chart: Trading Economics