REPORT

Where housing meets climate

Ten proven approaches for cities to solve the housing and climate crises together

How cities worldwide are tackling both the housing and climate risks

By downloading the new report by Ramboll and C40 Cities, you will gain insights into:

Ten proven approaches: Cases showing how cities can expand housing stock, protect existing buildings and improve life quality while cutting carbon and boosting urban resilience.
Financing and governance: What it takes to fund climate-ready homes and make housing policy durable across political cycles.
City and expert insights: Perspectives from Bogotá, Copenhagen, Jakarta, Vancouver, Warsaw and leading housing and climate practitioners.

REPORT HIGHLIGHTS

Key takeaways

A common misconception is that cities must choose between building enough homes and maintaining climate ambitions. The report shows that the two challenges can be tackled together, using approaches that are already tried and tested in cities around the world.

Housing and climate can work together

Building in the right places, reusing existing buildings and designing for resilience can help cities increase the housing stock while reducing emissions, and long-term costs.

The solutions already exist

Densification, transit-oriented development, neighbourhood revitalisation, adaptive reuse, deep retrofit, and low-cost construction are proven approaches already being used to address both challenges.

Success depends on aligning priorities

Delivering at scale requires cities to treat housing as essential infrastructure and for municipal housing, planning, transport, climate and finance departments to align priorities.

WHAT'S INSIDE

Signe Kongebro

Global Director, Future Resilient Design

Contact Signe

Paulina Lis

Senior Strategic Sustainability Consultant

Contact Paulina

Jonathan Martins

Senior Manager, Global Industry Lead Buildings & Cities

Contact Jonathan

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This report sets out ten tried and tested approaches cities can take to deliver affordable, climate-ready housing at scale. The findings are grounded in interviews with city officials, urban practitioners and experts from diverse cities worldwide.

While city leaders face growing pressure to loosen climate standards to speed up housing delivery, the report by Ramboll and C40 Cities shows that is a false choice and that it is possible to deliver affordable homes, climate resilience, and lower carbon emissions together.

Special acknowledgements

Sincere thanks to the city leaders, practitioners and experts in Bogotá, Copenhagen, Jakarta, São Paulo, Vancouver, Warsaw and beyond for generously sharing your insights through interviews and case studies.