The goal of reducing global warming to +1.5°C requires us to reduce not only the greenhouse gas emissions caused by our direct activities (heating, cooling, mobility, electricity production, etc.), but also the emissions that have already been generated outside the usual limits of consideration through our consumption – as it were, stuck in the products. This “emission backpack” contained in the products is almost as large as the direct emissions.

While many countries, regions and cities have developed strategies to reduce local emissions, there is often no plan to reduce the emissions contained in the purchased products. erscp21 will consider both aspects: the possibilities to reduce the emission of climate-relevant gases during production as well as to reduce upstream emissions by changing consumer behavior. It will be essential that cities – where already more than half of the world’s population lives – and economic sectors reduce emissions, adapt to climate change, and take resilience measures. Changing consumption behavior will be an important issue in building a closed cycle economy, especially urban closed cycles including the forced utilization of local resources.

For many of us, it is difficult to imagine how cities and societies will function from an economic and social point of view once the +1.5° target is reached. What do cities look like, what is their relationship with their surroundings? What and how much will we work and how will we move? Which industries will gain in importance, which will lose? What will we eat, what will we produce? And how will this affect air, sea and land traffic.

People are also hardly aware of the many benefits that can result from a significant reduction in emissions in cities. These benefits include not only better health through cleaner air and greater safety with soft mobility but also more livable urban spaces.

erscp21 covers a number of UN Sustainable Development Goals. Goal 12 “Responsible Consumption and Production” meets the core target of the conference. But many other issues are in the focus as well, like SDG 4 “Quality of Education”, SDG 6 “Clean Water and Sanitation”, SDG 7 “Affordable and Cleaner Energy”, SDG 9 “Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure”, SDG 11 “Sustainable Cities and Communities” and SDG 13 “Climate Action”.