Climate change is real, and it will touch every corner of the world. One popular criticism of city-scale efforts to curb emissions and go green claims that a city-by-city fight against climate change directs energy away from sweeping and urgent solutions at a national or international level. Shouldn’t we be thinking bigger? Sam Liccardo, mayor of San Jose, California, and Daniel Zarrilli, chief climate policy advisor for New York CIty, say that’s the wrong way to think about the issue:

Some efforts, like auto emission standards and pollution control, are most efficient when enacted at the national level. But in parallel, there are other areas — like land use and transit — that are best addressed at a local level. Solving climate change will require national and local governments working in concert, not each acting separately. 

In the fight to reduce energy use and curb emissions, more US cities are looking to building owners. Building styles over the last century haven't exactly prioritized energy efficiency. Skyscrapers, warehouses, and even residential homes are massive energy consumers. Many buildings become even less efficient as they age, so there’s massive potential for energy savings by retrofitting those buildings.

Daniel Zarrilli has an ambitious plan for New York City. In the concrete jungle of Manhattan, the buildings are responsible for 70% of the city’s emissions. As part of a larger climate plan, New York will require building owners to retrofit their buildings over the coming decades to meet exacting emissions standards. And to make sure that building owners don’t pass those costs on to tenants, the city is offering financial assistance for retrofits in the form of grants and tax cuts.

Many climate change initiatives have a class problem. Solar panels, electric cars — they’re good for the planet, but they’re prohibitively expensive for everyday Americans. And the burden of fuel taxes to curb auto emissions would be felt most acutely by those living paycheck-to-paycheck. So what do climate policies that help all Americans look like? Sam Liccardo gives examples from San Jose of what equitable climate initiatives can look like:

Fossil fuel vehicles create cascading environmental effects in urban areas, and many cities are looking for ways to overthrow the dominance of traditional transportation. It’s not an easy task though. A century’s worth of city planning, economic growth, and societal norms rest on fossil fuel vehicles and their infrastructure. Sam Liccardo and Daniel Zarrilli discuss the successes and limits around easing Americans out of gas guzzlers and into electric vehicles:

Although the effects of climate change won’t discriminate based on political party, the efforts to fight climate change follow partisan political lines in the US. Sam Liccardo and Daniel Zarrilli explain how they try to engage other civic leaders on climate change, even if they disagree politically: