The Priorities for Building Resilient Cities with Shirley Rodrigues and Emma Howard Boyd CBE

Resilience First, in partnership with Resilience Rising, is pleased to convene a virtual panel discussion on the priorities for building resilient cities with Shirley Rodrigues, Deputy Mayor for Environment and Energy, Greater London Authority (GLA) and Emma Howard Boyd CBE, Chair of the London Climate Resilience Review. 

During the session, we look forward to hearing from the Deputy Mayor on the GLA’s latest plans to ensure London stays on track to becoming a net-zero city by 2030. Furthermore, with climate-induced risks already embedded into the fabric of cities around the world, with heat waves, wildfires, flash flooding, rising water-levels, vector borne diseases and connected health-related issues, this event will also consider the urgent case for climate resilience and adaptation in future-proofing our cities.

We're delighted to announce that Emma Howard Boyd CBE, Chair of the London Climate Resilience Review will also be speaking about the recently published interim report during this session. This report was commissioned by the Mayor to investigate the impact of the extreme weather events that London has experienced in recent years.

An issue which is further exacerbated through the pressures of increased urbanisation. According to a recent article by Professor Michael Keith, from University of Oxford, urban growth is driving environmental change at an unprecedented scale. The data on this is clear — according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, in 2020 urban areas collectively contributed about three-quarters of carbon dioxide equivalent emissions.