The climate crisis is coming home in our sweltering cities | Letters

Innovative ways are being found to cool cities, and justice demands that rich countries help those in the global south, say Dr David Dodman and Dr Aditya V Bahadur. Plus letters from Ann and Neil Holmes and Sarah WinneWe were glad to see Oliver Wainwright draw attention to soaring heat in cities - a critical aspect of climate change (Metropolis meltdown: the urgent steps we need to take to cool our sweltering cities, 14 July). Indeed, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, to whose reports we have both contributed, says the amount of warming in urban areas can sometimes be twice that in surrounding areas because of the way cities are built.It is heartening to read about some of the innovative ways being found to cool cities, from uncovering buried rivers to painting roofs white. But we noted that all the examples cited come from richer countries in the global north. Most city residents now live in the global south. For the most vulnerable people, who have done the least to cause climate change, adapting to greater heat in the cities where they live is an economic impossibility. Continue reading...