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Primer on how the UN COP process supports US climate action

The UN climate conferences do not write US law, yet they change what countries, companies, cities, and investors actually do.

COPs create shared timelines and yardsticks, translate science into clear messages, and convene coalitions that make credible action easier to recognize and finance.

That force multiplier reaches Congress and federal agencies, and it reaches governors, utility commissions, mayors, school districts, and tribal and regional governments.

In a federal system where delivery is distributed, the strongest results come when national and subnational actors move in step with global signals.

The COP as a catalyst for decisions that are made at home

No COP can compel votes on Capitol Hill or at a statehouse. What COPs do is synchronize clocks, define credibility, and concentrate attention.

The cycle of national climate plans and the Global Stocktake turn distant goals into near term milestones.

Guidance on net zero claims, methane accounting, and sector road maps sets a reference for regulators, investors, and civil society.

The events themselves gather public and private leaders in one place, which speeds deals that would take months in normal time.

The result is a steady pull on policy, procurement, and investment decisions across US institutions.

How COPs stimulate commitments beyond national decisions

Deadlines bring action forward. As COP dates approach, agencies and companies look for announcements that show momentum. That deadline effect pulls forward rules, grants, and procurements that might otherwise wait.

Shared expectations define what counts as credible. When there is clarity on methane measurement or on steel and cement pathways, federal departments, state regulators, and corporate boards can align their standards and purchasing.

Coalitions reduce risk for first movers. International buyer and producer groups on clean power, zero emission vehicles, shipping fuels, and low carbon materials lower market risk and unlock offtake agreements that justify US investment.

Finance aligns around pipelines. Development banks, green banks, and private lenders use COP to standardize program templates. That makes it easier for smaller US cities and utilities to join and easier for federal programs to blend public and private capital.

Co-benefits move to the center. Health, affordability, jobs, and time saved are now core parts of the COP narrative. That framing helps build durable coalitions for action in the United States.

Why COP outcomes matter for US federal action

Competitiveness and trade are on the line. Global buyers are demanding low carbon materials and clean power. The European Union is phasing in a carbon border adjustment. US producers that can verify lower emissions will protect market share and may gain it. COP signals help justify federal incentives for clean heat, electrified processes, and cleaner logistics and they support Buy Clean requirements that value low embodied carbon.

Federal rulemaking and guidance draw on international norms. Environmental and energy agencies look to global methods on measurement and verification when shaping standards.

Stocktake findings and sector road maps inform rule design at the Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Energy, and they influence procurement rules at the General Services Administration and the Department of Defense.

When federal purchasing rewards outcomes such as comfort hours, uptime, and low embodied carbon, markets move.

Finance mobilization benefits from convergence on metrics. COP aligned disclosure and transition planning support the work of US financial regulators and voluntary reporting frameworks. Green banks and federal loan programs can use shared metrics to crowd in private lenders at scale while keeping affordability safeguards.

Energy security and price stability improve with the shift that COPs promote. Efficiency, electrification, and diversified clean supply mean more domestic manufacturing of heat pumps, transformers, batteries, and grid controls. Less exposure to fossil price shocks is good for households and for national security.

Health and affordability gains are central. COP emphasis on health gives cover and urgency to rules on soot and ozone, methane and volatile organic compounds, indoor air quality, and urban cooling. These rules cut medical costs and lower energy bills.

Why COP outcomes matter for US states and cities

States set clean power targets and building codes. Municipalities control land use, housing strategies, transit frequency, street design, shade, and cooling centers. Public utility commissions decide how fast utilities invest in grids, demand flexibility, and storage. School districts and hospital systems are giant energy customers. COP road maps and networks offer ready templates and finance that local actors can adopt quickly.

Standards and model policies will spread faster. Building performance standards, clean construction and Buy Clean specifications, zero emission truck and bus rules, and cooling action plans are moving through state and city networks. COP guidance gives these policies a common language and metrics, which lowers the cost of adoption and compliance.

Procurement will tilt toward buying outcomes and services. The services conversation at COP will show up in bids that pay for comfort, reliability, clean air, and trip speed. A school district can procure classroom comfort by bundling envelope upgrades, heat pumps, ventilation, and maintenance with pay as you save tariffs. A transit agency can procure on time service with zero emission fleets rather than only buses. A hospital system or water utility can procure resilience and uptime through performance based microgrids. Once a few large buyers standardize contracts and data, peers can copy them and scale the market.

Finance will move through standardized programs. COP is where multilateral lenders, green banks, and private capital converge on program templates. In the United States that enables state green banks, infrastructure banks, and municipal issuers to package retrofits, distributed energy, fleet electrification, and cooling networks into repeatable portfolios with common verification. Smaller jurisdictions benefit most because templates lower legal costs and protect low income customers.

Utility regulation will absorb global best practice. Breakthrough metrics on system flexibility, demand response, and interconnection speed will inform performance based regulation at state commissions. Expect wider use of outcome metrics such as avoided outages, interconnection cycle time, flexible load enrolled, and hourly carbon intensity of delivered electricity. These will pair with around the clock clean power procurement by cities, universities, and corporate buyers, which strengthens the signal for storage and transmission.

Ports and industry will organize around cross border corridors and buyers clubs. Green shipping corridors create specific routes where ports, carriers, fuel suppliers, and cargo owners commit to lower carbon operations. US ports on the West Coast, the Gulf, and the Atlantic will use these corridors to attract federal and private funds for bunkering, shore power, and efficient landside logistics. Buyers clubs for clean steel, cement, and aluminum will help states implement clean procurement for roads, bridges, schools, and public housing while keeping contractors competitive.

Health and heat will anchor local action. COP attention to health makes it easier for state health departments and city heat officers to justify investments in cooling networks, tree canopy, reflective surfaces, indoor air upgrades, and clean cooking. Expect growth in heat season playbooks, home cooling support for vulnerable residents, and resilience hubs in libraries and community centers.

How federal and subnational action can reinforce each other

As the next round of national climate targets takes shape, states and cities can feed quantified pipelines in power, buildings, transport, and industry into federal planning. In return, federal grants, tax credits, and procurement can prioritize projects that use shared COP metrics and verification, which makes progress provable at home and credible abroad.

Federal agencies can publish short sector playbooks that translate COP road maps into US ready actions with model contracts and data standards. Grant windows and procurement rounds can be timed with global cycles so US announcements ride the same wave as international partners. Technical assistance and open data can help smaller jurisdictions adopt best practice without heavy consulting costs.

States and cities can pick a few COP aligned plays that deliver visible benefits. A district wide comfort program for schools can cut bills and improve learning. A zero emission bus service contract with on time guarantees can boost ridership and air quality. A neighborhood cooling and heat health program can protect residents in the hottest weeks. An interconnection sprint with public dashboards can clear backlogs and enable more rooftop solar and batteries. Each play should use common metrics that peers are adopting to make financing and replication easy.

Illustrative national and local spillovers already underway

The Global Methane Pledge raised the profile of methane across energy and agriculture. The result is stronger satellite detection, more attention from producers, and faster uptake of low cost fixes. US methane standards and voluntary programs draw strength from this momentum and they create service markets for detection and repair that local firms can serve.

The First Movers Coalition gathered buyers for low carbon steel, cement, aluminum, shipping, and aviation fuels. US procurement and domestic investment credits create demand and supply at the same time, which lowers costs for industrial decarbonization and keeps US manufacturing in the race. States can align their Buy Clean policies to the same product rules and labels to amplify that effect.

The Breakthrough Agenda produced road maps for power, road transport, hydrogen, and industry. These road maps inform utility resource planning, state clean transport strategies, and federal purchasing guidance, and they steer demand toward cleaner supply chains that US producers can serve.

Article 6 pilots are improving methods for high integrity crediting. Even before a mature market exists, this signals to US project developers and buyers that better baselines, monitoring, and benefit sharing are coming. States and cities can use the same methods for results based payments in landfills, wastewater plants, building retrofits, and urban nature projects while maintaining safeguards.

The bottom line

COPs do not substitute for US lawmaking, yet they shape expectations, define credibility, and align finance in ways that help both federal and subnational leaders move faster.

The likely future is two way traffic. States and cities will feed concrete pipelines and metrics into national and global processes. Federal agencies will pull down templates and capital that make delivery cheaper and quicker on the ground.

If the United States leans into that exchange, it will get cleaner and more reliable energy, healthier air, safer heat seasons, competitive industries, and communities that see tangible improvements in daily life.

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Wrap-up of COP30 in Belém: Developments and what’s next

The COP30 climate talks in Belém, Brazil closed with a familiar mixed message: the headline cover decision reaffirmed the 1.5°C limit and called for “transitions” in energy and economies, but stopped short of a clear, time‑bound fossil‑fuel phaseout and left finance and carbon‑market rules largely unresolved.

That gap between ambition and delivery is where the action now moves—to 2035 nationally-determined commitments (NDCs), to sector transitions guided by the IPCC, to health and wellbeing co‑benefits, and to cities, states, and service innovators who can make climate progress tangible.

Alignment with the IPCC’s “major transitions”

IPCC AR6 lays out the big shifts needed this decade. Power must decarbonize and end use must electrify. Industry needs efficiency and fuel switching. Transport and buildings require strong demand side changes. Land food and nature based solutions must expand. Finance and governance reforms must enable these changes in ways that are feasible and just.

On energy and fossil fuels, the cover decision invoked transitions and allowed for abatement and CCS, but it did not codify a universal fossil fuel phaseout. It reiterated scaling clean energy and efficiency consistent with IPCC least cost pathways, yet without stronger time bound collective targets. The net effect is a political signal to keep shifting capital while continued ambiguity risks a slower drawdown of coal oil and gas.

On 2035 NDCs, parties were urged to submit new economy wide targets aligned with 1.5°C. This matters because it sets a near term deadline for whole economy planning and, if done well, can drive integrated transitions across power transport buildings and industry rather than a set of siloed pledges.

On adaptation and resilience, negotiators advanced work on operationalizing the Global Goal on Adaptation with more clarity on indicators and reporting and less on quantified global targets. This helps countries design risk informed and locally appropriate transitions that remain robust under uncertainty.

On finance and feasibility, delivery pathways for climate finance still lag needs. Without clearer concessional flows and debt relief the feasibility dimension that combines institutions finance and capacity remains a bottleneck for many economies.

On process innovation, the Brazil Presidency draft Mutirão text was described in mid-COP briefings as a menu-based push on implementation. This signals a pivot from one-size-fits-all to practical options that countries can pick up. If carried into the 2035 NDC cycle, it could accelerate uptake of proven transition packages.

The bottom line on transitions is that COP30 nudged system wide planning with 2035 NDCs and adaptation metrics, but it left the core mitigation signal weaker than the IPCC call for rapid deep and sustained reductions. Delivery now hinges on national policy packages and real economy coalitions that move power transport buildings industry and land together.

Role of affordability, health, and other wellbeing

A notable advance at COP30 was the prominence of health and quality of life framing. The WHO Special Report Delivering the Belém Health Action Plan lays out a practical agenda to integrate health into climate action through climate resilient and low carbon health systems, cleaner air, heat health protection, and finance models that value health benefits.

In practice, more parties and partners signaled plans to embed health metrics in climate policy. They plan to track avoided deaths from cleaner air, reduced heat risk, and the resilience of clinics. This reframes climate policy as a public health dividend and not only an emissions ledger.

Demand-side measures for affordability and comfort gained attention. Efficient all-electric homes, passive and district cooling, and clean cooking can reduce bills, improve indoor air, and deliver thermal comfort, especially for low-income households.

Time saved and access also featured. Mobility investments that emphasize high frequency transit, safe walking and cycling, and integrated ticketing reduce commute times and improve access to jobs and services. These multiple benefits are often undervalued in cost benefit analysis.

This matters because policies that foreground lower energy poverty, better air, safer heat seasons, and shorter commutes tend to be more durable politically and faster to scale.

The Belém Health Action Plan offers a template that ministries can adopt now, with indicators that resonate beyond climate circles.

Subnational developments

The Presidency spotlighted cities, regions, tribal, and Indigenous governments as delivery agents. An official evening summary on November 11 emphasized how local and subnational leadership is driving real world climate progress in peoples homes.

Cities and states showcased local implementation plans that braid climate health and affordability goals. Examples include building performance standards, all electric codes for new buildings, rental retrofit programs, and cooling action plans.

They advanced fleet and infrastructure pivots such as zero emission buses, municipal fleets, freight corridors, and EV ready streetscapes, paired with reliability upgrades to distribution grids.

Nature and resilience programs featured urban tree canopies, blue green stormwater systems, fire smart land use, and nature based coastal buffers as no regrets moves that also improve daily life.

Finance innovation is helping smaller jurisdictions attract private capital while protecting low income households by packaging projects into standardized programs such as pay as you save retrofits, green mortgages, and resilience bonds.

This matters because subnational governments control many levers that shape user experience including permits codes service standards transit frequency and cooling centers. Their plans can translate COP speak into renovations routes and shade on the ground.

Focus on services to unite policy with user experience and value

One evolution at COP30 is the treatment of climate solutions as services and not only technologies. The focus is on meeting needs such as mobility, thermal comfort, cooling, clean cooking, and reliable power through integrated offers that align incentives from the start.

A services lens accelerates climate action in several ways. Clear value propositions help because people buy outcomes rather than kilowatt hours, for example mobility as a service that delivers fast reliable and safe trips, comfort as a service that delivers quiet healthy and stable indoor temperatures, and cooling as a service that guarantees performance without upfront cost.

Policy fit improves when service performance standards such as comfort hours trip times and air quality targets sit alongside emissions standards.

Public procurement can buy services for example contracted comfort for schools and hospitals instead of equipment, which enables aggregators to finance upgrades at scale.

Ownership of the user experience reduces friction when one accountable entity handles design delivery maintenance and billing, with bundles that include financing warranties and simple apps that make clean choices the easy default.

Equity by design becomes practical because services can embed affordability through lifeline tiers on bill tariffs and targeted subsidies that guarantee comfort and access for renters and low income households who are often locked out of capital intensive technology.

Data and verification also improve because service contracts create measurable outcomes such as comfort hours avoided outages and on time trips which can anchor results based finance and where appropriate high integrity carbon and health crediting.

Near‑term service plays to watch:

  • Thermal comfort services for social housing and schools, combining envelope, heat pumps, and ventilation with pay‑as‑you‑save tariffs.
  • Cooling‑as‑a‑service in hot cities, linked to heat‑health plans and time‑of‑use pricing.
  • Clean‑cooking service subscriptions that bundle stoves, fuel access, and maintenance.
  • Mobility subscriptions that integrate transit, bike/scooter share, and first/last‑mile shuttles.
  • Reliability‑as‑a‑service for critical facilities, pairing rooftop solar, storage, and microgrids under performance contracts.

Wrap-up

So, did COP30 move the needle? The signal is moderate because the cover text uses transitions language that keeps 1.5°C on the agenda but it avoided a clear fossil phaseout.

The structure is useful since 2035 NDC guidance, adaptation metrics work, and the Brazil Presidency’s menu style implementation push give countries and cities a clearer runway to act.

The substance is still to be delivered, and the most credible progress now lies in national policy packages, subnational implementation, and service based business models that foreground health, affordability, comfort, and time.

Looking ahead, watch for the first wave of 2035 NDCs and whether they are economy-wide, IPCC-aligned, and grounded in just locally led transitions.

Track how quickly countries operationalize the Belém Health Action Plan in budgets, clinics, heat health systems, and clean air rules.

See whether cities and states move building retrofits, cooling programs, and transit upgrades from pilots to standardized and financeable portfolios.

Monitor whether ministries, school districts, and utilities begin procuring outcomes such as comfort, reliability, and trips at scale.

References

UNFCCC (22 Nov 2025). Outcomes Report of the Global Climate Action Agenda at COP 30. UNFCCC. https://unfccc.int/documents/655037

COP30 Presidency (15 Nov 2025). COP30 Evening Summary – November 15. COP30 Presidency. https://cop30.br/en/news-about-cop30/cop30-evening-summary-november-15

European Parliament (17 Nov 2025). COP30 outcome: slow progress, but insufficient to meet the climate crisis urgency. European Parliament. https://www.europarl.europa.eu/news/fr/press-room/20251117IPR31438/cop30-outcome-slow-progress-but-insufficient-to-meet-climate-crisis-urgency

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Key climate solutions for communities

To unlock new climate progress, apply the power of local communities. Communities are key to most of the climate action needed as well as types of action that can make daily life safer, healthier, and more affordable for everyone.

What follows is a list of community‑oriented solutions that:

  • Are key areas of climate action overall;
  • Offer some of the most effective climate opportunities for communities;
  • Fall within local authority and influence, representing unique power by communities; and
  • Advance equity and public wellbeing, which can lead the way to support for doing more.

Estimates reflect typical North American urban conditions and results vary by context.

#1. Make it legal and attractive to put housing near destinations, and amenities near homes: Reform zoning for more homes in job‑ and transit‑rich areas, permit “missing middle” housing and accessory units, reduce minimum parking, enable small mixed‑use corner stores, clinics, and childcare, and streamline approvals for affordability and inclusion. 

Infill homes lower household VMT 20–40% versus sprawl; shifting 10–20% of growth to infill can cut regional on‑road emissions ~2–6% over a decade, while multifamily/attached homes use 10–30% less energy per unit. If 40%+ of new housing is transit‑oriented, metro transport emissions can fall 10–20% by 2040, with shorter trips, lower costs, and inclusionary policies reducing displacement pressures.

#2. Neutralize the threat of being killed or seriously injured by a driver: Design streets to self‑enforce safe speeds, build connected, protected bike networks, daylight intersections, prioritize pedestrians at crossings, and target high‑injury corridors with data‑driven design, paired with fair enforcement and universal access to safe mobility. 

Such programs typically cut VMT 3–10% citywide within 5–10 years (about 2–8% on‑road CO2e, or 1–4% of total community emissions), with sustained mode shift reducing per‑capita transport emissions 20–50% over 10–20 years. Fewer severe crashes, reliable low‑cost mobility during fuel price spikes or outages, and better access to jobs and services especially benefit low‑income residents, youth, seniors, and people with disabilities.

#3. Deliver high‑quality walking, bicycling, and public transit for everyone: Build safe, direct bike routes and frequent, reliable transit with all‑door boarding, bus lanes, and integrated fares, and complete trips with wayfinding, lighting, benches, shade, and safe crossings. Network upgrades and service improvements reduce corridor VMT 5–15% and citywide 3–10%, and over time enable car‑light lifestyles that can halve household transport emissions. Redundant, multimodal networks also keep people moving during storms and outages while cutting mobility costs and improving access to essentials.

#4. Create abundant places to meet, interact, and belong outside of commerce: Invest in parks, plazas, libraries, greenways, and car‑free streets with free programming, designed for comfort—trees, water, seating, restrooms—and cultural expression. 

Nearby amenities reduce short car trips (often 0.5–2% VMT citywide) and shaded, tree‑rich public spaces lower cooling demand for adjacent buildings. Social infrastructure strengthens mutual aid, and shade and cooling reduce heat risk while free programming expands wellbeing without raising household costs.

#5. Restore and steward nature in the city with climate‑resilient landscaping and urban forestry:  Install bioswales, rain gardens, permeable pavements, and green roofs; landscape with native, drought‑tolerant species; expand and equitably distribute tree canopy; and restore wetlands, riparian corridors, dunes, and living shorelines. 

Shade and evapotranspiration cut cooling loads 5–30% for shaded buildings (roughly 0.05–0.3 tCO2e per home per year), while each new street tree sequesters 10–25 kg CO2 annually; 100,000 trees store 1–2.5 ktCO2e per year and avoid more via energy savings. Citywide canopy gains of 10 percentage points can reduce peak electricity demand 2–5%, while bioswales and rain gardens reduce flooding and heat in historically underserved neighborhoods.

#6. Grow local, plant‑rich food for health, climate, and resilience: Support community gardens, urban farms, edible landscaping, school gardens, greenhouses and rooftop farms; expand farmers markets and CSAs with SNAP matching; prioritize culturally appropriate crops and cut food waste. 

Plant‑rich diets reduce 0.5–1.6 tCO2e per person per year, while shorter cold chains for local produce trim 10–50 kg per person annually and compost‑amended soils store additional carbon. These measures increase food security, lower food bills, build community cohesion, and create local jobs and skills.

#7. Turn waste into soil with municipal composting: Provide universal organics collection (including multifamily) and business service, convenient drop‑offs, clear bin standards, and edible food recovery, and apply finished compost in parks, street trees, and urban agriculture. 

Diverting 1 t of food scraps from landfill avoids 0.2–0.6 tCO2e; with 75% diversion, communities avoid 20–80 kg CO2e per person annually, and compost use adds soil carbon and displaces synthetic fertilizer, totaling 40–120 kg per person per year. Programs create local jobs, improve soils that retain water, support urban food, and reduce odors and pests near facilities often sited in low‑income areas.

#8. Create systems for water conservation and efficiency: Offer instant‑rebate upgrades for high‑efficiency fixtures and appliances, smart irrigation, and turf replacement with climate‑appropriate landscaping; deploy smart meters with leak alerts; promote rainwater harvesting and safe graywater reuse; and set fair, affordability‑protected rates. 

Hot‑water efficiency (fixtures plus heat‑pump water heaters) lowers 0.6–1.8 tCO2e per home per year, while outdoor water efficiency and smart irrigation save 50–200 kg per home via the water‑energy nexus; utility‑scale leak detection and efficiency can cut water‑system electricity use 10–30%. The result is lower bills, improved drought resilience, reduced shutoff risk, and cooler neighborhoods where turf gives way to drought‑tolerant landscapes.

#9. Make buildings efficient and electric: Require and finance tight envelopes, passive cooling (shade, ventilation), and all‑electric systems; add rooftop solar and vehicle‑to‑home readiness; and harden for heat, smoke, fires, and floods. 

Typical retrofits and heat pumps save 1–3 tCO2e per home per year, heat‑pump water heaters 0.5–1.5 t, and induction 0.1–0.3 t; retrofitting 2–3% of stock annually cuts building emissions 3–7% in five years, and with grid decarbonization achieves 60–90% cuts by 2040–2050. Efficient envelopes keep homes habitable during outages, indoor air is healthier without combustion, and targeted no‑cost programs reduce energy poverty.

#10. Make electrification available for virtually everything—and beneficial to users: Provide simple, up‑front rebates for heat pumps, induction, electric water heaters, cars, e‑bikes, and chargers; implement equitable rates, managed charging, and community solar; and invest in workforce training and local contractors. 

Accelerated adoption increases cumulative 2030 reductions 10–30% versus slow rollout; each e‑bike that replaces car trips avoids ~0.3–1 tCO2e per year, and each home fuel‑switch avoids 1–3 tCO2e annually. Lower operating costs and cleaner air accrue broadly when access programs ensure renters and low‑income households benefit first.

#11. Build shared, neighborhood‑scale clean energy and resilience: Create resilience centers with solar, batteries, clean‑air rooms, and cooling/warming, link buildings via microgrids, deploy district geothermal/geoexchange networks, organize block commitments to decommission gas laterals and upgrade electrical capacity, and add curbside and hub EV charging. 

District geothermal cuts heating/cooling energy 30–60% and GHGs 40–80% today; microgrids with solar+storage reduce feeder peaks and displace diesel backup (1–3% local electricity emissions), and coordinated gas retirement plus electrification can eliminate 10–20% of total city emissions from building combustion and leakage over two decades. Shared systems keep critical services powered, lower costs for renters and small businesses, and should be prioritized in frontline neighborhoods.

#12. Keep people collectively safe from disasters, shocks, and stressors: Combine nature‑based defenses (trees, wetlands, dunes) with modern standards (cool roofs, updated codes, elevation, floodable parks), add resilient hubs, cooling centers, and clear risk communication, and plan jointly for heat, smoke, floods, and outages. 

These measures safeguard crucial clean energy and other assets that reduce emissions, contribute to a faster adoption of such systems and reduce the likelihood of maladaptations such as increased use of diesel generators, and prevent high‑emission disaster recovery and support reliable operation of clean energy systems. Clean air and cooling access, language‑inclusive alerts, and social infrastructure protect those most exposed.

#13. Tamp down air pollution across its many sources. Tackle tailpipes and smokestacks together with land use, travel‑demand fixes, and clean technology: legalize compact, mixed‑use infill near jobs and transit and pair it with transportation demand management (congestion and curb pricing, employer commute benefits, school travel plans, demand‑based parking, delivery consolidation) to shorten trips, cut VMT and idling, and curb non‑exhaust PM. Accelerate zero‑emission cars, buses, and trucks; electrify buildings; restrict the dirtiest vehicles in dense areas; and expand urban forests and cool corridors. Focus on ports, freight corridors, and overburdened neighborhoods with shore power, yard‑equipment electrification, clean‑truck rules, and fenceline monitoring. Drive down PM2.5 (including diesel black carbon and brake/tire/road dust), PM10, NOx, SO2, VOCs and air toxics (e.g., benzene, formaldehyde, 1,3‑butadiene), carbon monoxide, and methane leaks that fuel ozone—verified with continuous monitoring and transparent public reporting.

Greenhouse‑gas benefits start with light‑duty vehicles: citywide VMT reduction of 3–10% from compact development and TDM typically yields ~2–8% on‑road CO2e cuts in 5–10 years; sustained mode shift to walking, biking, and transit can lower per‑capita transport emissions 20–50% over 10–20 years; and rapid LDV electrification adds 60–90% per‑mile CO2e reductions as grids decarbonize, with each e‑bike that replaces car trips avoiding ~0.3–1 tCO2e per year. Building electrification removes on‑site combustion; each e‑bus avoids ~50–80 tCO2e annually; and medium/heavy‑duty truck electrification cuts 60–95% per‑mile CO2e, while area‑focused clean‑air zones deliver additional, localized multi‑percent transport‑sector cuts. Health gains are largest for residents near ports, warehouses, and arterials, and fewer combustion appliances indoors reduce asthma triggers.

#14. Invest in public infrastructure efficiently and price disproportionate impacts fairly: Use lifecycle cost and carbon accounting, standardized designs, open data, and fair user fees such as weight‑ and distance‑based road charges, curb and congestion pricing, demand‑based parking, and stormwater fees tied to impervious areas, all with protections for low‑income users. 

Congestion and curb pricing reduce VMT 10–20% in priced zones and 2–5% citywide, demand‑based parking trims 2–4%, and stable revenue enables sustained transit and active‑mode expansion that underpins 10–20% transport‑sector cuts over time. Pairing pricing with income‑based discounts and reinvestment delivers fairer outcomes and lowers long‑run costs.

#15. Save money and materials with sharing and lending: Launch tool, toy, sports‑gear, and baby‑gear libraries; repair cafes and fix‑it clinics; clothing swaps and reuse marketplaces; and shared equipment for schools and small businesses, in partnership with public libraries for memberships and reservations. 

Avoided production dominates the climate benefit—sharing a handful of seldom‑used items can avert 50–200 kg CO2e per person per year, with mature programs achieving 0.1–1% community‑wide cuts and broader normalization of reuse delivering 2–5% consumption‑based reductions by 2035. These programs provide low‑cost access to essentials and skills and build social networks that matter in emergencies.

#16. Offer local services and experiences as affordable alternatives to high consumption:  Invest in arts and culture passes, maker spaces, community kitchens, skill‑shares, recreation, local tourism, and nature access, and support small businesses that provide repair, care, wellness, and learning, using vouchers and memberships to ensure inclusion. 

Shifting 5% of household spend from goods to low‑carbon services and experiences reduces ~0.2–0.8 tCO2e per household per year, with scaled programs cutting community consumption‑based emissions 1–3% over time. The result is more wellbeing per dollar, local jobs and skills, and inclusive access to community life.

#17. Organize public decision‑making around measurable collective wellbeing: 

Use participatory budgeting, citizens’ assemblies, language access, evidence‑based pilots and A/B tests, transparent dashboards, and delivery‑focused timelines that give frontline communities real power, not just voice. 

Faster, smarter adoption increases cumulative reductions—programs that double deployment rates can boost 2030 impact 10–30% versus business‑as‑usual rollout—while policies reflecting lived experience deliver fairer, more durable outcomes.

#18. Make large‑scale change possible and practical: Build project pipelines and pattern books, pre‑approve typical designs, procure at scale, train a climate‑ready workforce, and start with quick‑build projects that become permanent as data show benefits.

Standardization and bulk buys lower costs and speed deployment across sectors, compounding reductions, while predictable pipelines create local careers and let small and minority‑owned firms compete and thrive.

Putting it all together

Communities that pursue these strategies in parallel can plausibly cut total emissions 35–60% by 2035 (from a 2020s baseline) while reducing heat and flood risk, improving air quality, lowering household bills, and creating good local jobs. The fastest paths pair demand reduction (land use, mobility, efficiency), rapid electrification, neighborhood‑scale clean energy, water and materials stewardship, and joyful, lower‑consumption ways of living—implemented through equitable programs that prioritize those with the greatest energy and health burdens.

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Lyft said private cars would be out by 2025–here’s what to ask next time

In 2016, Lyft cofounder and president John Zimmer wrote that by 2025 private car ownership would all but end in major U.S. cities. Fast forward: We’re not just off track but moving the opposite way.

Although the prediction should have been treated as unbelievable at the time, it was widely reported as credible, often with little scrutiny or independent analysis. Many readers and editors seemed eager for it to be true, perhaps because it fit a familiar story in which software rapidly overturns old systems.

Technological salvation is alluring, but enthusiasm can obscure how transportation really works. Smartphones and online retail moved fast because they could. Mobility is different. It is defined by land use, the allocation of rights, privileges, and funding, and infrastructure that lasts decades while continuously locking in supporting investments along the way.

Cars dominate because policy made it so. Highways, subsidies, zoning, finance, and design standards formed a meticulously-crafted ecosystem for automobiles. Homes have been separated from daily destinations, with gaps filled by roads that are wide and fast.

Transit, cycling, and walking are less common than driving. But it isn’t because they are inherently weaker or less popular. It’s because our current system treats the car as necessary and central for almost every trip, and constrains and prioritizes from there.

Automated vehicles have advanced, but slowly and within limits. Companies like Waymo show that meaningful progress takes time and careful deployment. We are prone to sweeping claims when they sparkle with tech optimism.

Looking ahead, we should not expect transformation to come from a single breakthrough. Rather, it will come from changing policy, reimagining urban design, and putting people at the center of mobility. That means funding choices, street space allocation, and land use decisions aligned with what we say we value.

The next time you hear about a miracle transportation breakthrough, here are some questions to ask:

1. What independent evidence supports this claim, and how could it be tested or falsified?

2. Which policies, budgets, and standards would need to change for it to work, and who has the authority to change them?

3. How must street design and land use shift to make the promised outcomes practical and safe?

4. What is the impact on people with below-average incomes and folks who can’t readily drive, including youth and the growing number of aging seniors?

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Primer on transitions for climate resilience

Climate-resilient development means changing how our systems work so people can thrive as the climate changes. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) calls these changes transitions. 

A transition is a coordinated shift in technology and infrastructure, in rules and institutions, in finance and markets, in skills and social norms, in ecosystem stewardship, and in how we use knowledge to decide and act. These shifts point in one direction. Lower emissions and lower risk. They are learning processes. They center equity and justice. They reflect local context to avoid fixes that raise risk elsewhere or later.

After a transition, emissions are structurally lower. Energy, mobility, water, food, and health services hold up better during heat, floods, fire, and storms. Systems have more redundancy and diversity so one failure does not cascade. Nature is healthier and acts as a buffer. Access is fairer and the most exposed people are safer.

How fast this can happen varies. Policy and finance can pivot within one to five years and must stay the course. End use technologies and fleets turn over in five to twenty years. Energy supply and grids often take ten to thirty years to rebuild. Urban form and major infrastructure can take twenty to fifty years or more. Ecosystem recovery and coastal reconfiguration often take decades. Acting this decade keeps options open and avoids lock in.

Energy

The energy transition cuts waste, electrifies end uses, and scales clean supply. Efficiency lowers demand in buildings, industry, and devices. Electrification moves heating, cooking, and many industrial processes to clean power. Renewables, storage, flexible demand, and modern grids become the backbone. Unabated fossil fuels decline. Grids become more resilient and smarter, with a mix of large interconnections and distributed resources like rooftop solar, batteries, and microgrids. Siting and design account for heat, wildfire, and flood. The transition supports workers and regions that depend on fossil fuels and expands affordable clean energy access.

Transportation

Mobility changes through avoid, shift, and improve. We reduce unnecessary travel with better land use and digital access. We shift more trips to public transport and active modes that are safe and convenient. We improve vehicles and fuels. Electric vehicles grow quickly as grids decarbonize. Freight uses more rail where feasible. Aviation and shipping focus on efficiency and sustainable fuels where electrification is harder. Transport networks withstand heat, flood, and storms through better materials, elevation, rerouting, and redundancy.

Urbanism 

Cities grow in ways that cut emissions and reduce risk. Compact, connected, mixed use neighborhoods shorten trips and support transit and walking. Buildings are efficient, well insulated, and designed for heat and smoke. Blue green infrastructure adds trees, parks, wetlands, and permeable surfaces that cool and absorb water. Land use, transport, water, and waste planning are integrated. Circular systems reduce waste and reuse water and materials. Emergency services have reliable access during extremes. Critical services can be decentralized when that improves reliability. Equity sits at the center through inclusive planning, slum upgrading, tenure security, and universal basic services for water, sanitation, cooling, and mobility.

Agriculture, water, and ecosystems

Food systems face rising heat, drought, flood, pests, and price shocks. The transition puts food and farm resilience up front. Farmers diversify crops and livestock, use agroecology, improve soils, harvest and store water, and use climate services for decisions. Cold chains, storage, and logistics reduce losses. Diets move toward healthy, sustainable options and food waste falls, which eases pressure on land and water. Water is managed across whole basins with demand management, nature based storage, reuse, and risk reduction for droughts and floods. Forests, wetlands, grasslands, rivers, and reefs are protected and restored, and landscapes stay connected so species can move. Coasts plan for rising seas with setbacks, buffers, and ecosystem based protection such as mangroves and reefs. Where risk becomes too high, managed retreat lowers harm. Indigenous rights and knowledge are respected and benefits and risks are shared fairly.

Health, livelihoods, and social protection

People face heat, disease, smoke, and displacement. Health systems prepare with heat action plans, climate informed primary care, and early warning that reaches every household. Safety from wildfire and other disasters is explicit in plans. Communities have clean air shelters, HEPA filtration, and N95 distribution for smoke. Hospitals, clinics, and schools have backup power and cooling. Evacuation routes, alerts, and shelters are accessible for people with disabilities, older adults, and families with young children. Programs harden homes against fire and storms and support retrofits for cooling and air quality. Universal access to water, sanitation, and hygiene reduces disease risk. Social protection cushions shocks through cash transfers, public works, insurance, and programs that scale automatically during disasters. Livelihoods diversify and education builds skills for new jobs. Mental health support is available after disasters.

Finance and governance

Money, rules, and skills enable everything above. Public and private finance scale up and shift toward mitigation and adaptation. Adaptation finance gaps close, especially in low income and climate vulnerable regions. Disclosure and pricing of climate risk become standard. Risk pooling and instruments for loss and damage expand. Governance is inclusive and multi level so communities, cities, regions, and nations work in concert. Decisions use scenarios and stress tests to manage uncertainty. Knowledge is co-produced with local and Indigenous communities. Education and workforce programs spread the skills needed for a just transition.

What success looks like 

If we are on track, emissions will fall. Losses from climate hazards stop rising as quickly even as hazards grow. Access to energy, mobility, cooling, water, food, and health improves. Exposure of high risk groups declines. Ecosystems recover and provide stronger services like cooling, flood control, and carbon storage. Investment patterns, institutions, and daily choices reinforce these gains rather than undermine them.

References

IPCC (2022). Climate Change 2022 Summary for Policymakers. Working Group II Sixth Assessment Report. https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar6/wg2/

IPCC (2023). AR6 Synthesis Report. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar6/syr/

Schaeffer R et al. (2025). Ten new insights in climate science 2024. One Earth. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2590332225001113

FAO (2021). The State of Food and Agriculture 2021. Making agrifood systems more resilient to shocks and stresses. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. https://www.fao.org/publications/sofa/2021/en/

Lancet Countdown (2024). 2024 report of the Lancet Countdown on health and climate change. The Lancet. https://www.lancetcountdown.org/2024-report/

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To secure crucial climate action, focus on resilience

What is climate action?

According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which is the most widely-accepted international scientific body on climate change, when we think about climate action, we should think climate-resilient development.1

Climate-resilient development means deeply reducing greenhouse gas emissions (“mitigation”) while dealing with the changing climate already coming at us (“adaptation”) and doing both in a way that supports sustainable development for everyone.

Mitigation

Mitigationmeans reducing greenhouse gas emissions.2 The magnitude of reduction needed is associated with limiting global warming by as close as possible to 1.5C (2.7F) degrees. Overall that means reducing half of global emissions from the period of 2023 (IPCC’s most recent major update) by 2030.

The US’ likely best ways to support that transition, as evaluated in 2024 by the Biden adminstration, are to (1) decarbonize the energy sector (focusing on cutting energy waste; shifting to carbon pollution-free electricity; electrifying and driving efficiency in vehicles, buildings, and parts of industry), (2) reduce emissions from forests and agriculture and enhancing carbon sinks, and (3) reduce non-CO2 greenhouse gases including methane, hydrofluorocarbons, and other potent short-lived climate pollutants.

For the US to carry its fair share, it needs reduce its emissions by about half from 2024 to 2030, or about 6,400 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalents (MtCO2e), according to Climate Action Tracker, which monitors and evaluates countries’ commitments.

The US’ actual commitment as of November 2024 (per its nationally-determined contribution submitted to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change) was about 22-28% for the period of 2024 to 2030. 3

Adaptation

Adaptationmeans adapting to the changes underway. It also specifically means avoiding maladaptation, or in other words, responses that worsen existing inequities, especially for Indigenous Peoples and marginalized groups, or that hurt ecosystem and biodiversity resilience.

Adaptation is a process that can take place over the range of multiple timescales, from nearer term to longer term, and really any physical level, from the whole human civilization on down.

Sustainable development for everyone

Sustainable development for everyone means centering justice, equity, and inclusion in investments and other commitments in order to avoid perpetuating historical and ongoing injustices, inequities, exclusions, and that reconcile divergent interests, values and worldviews toward equitable and just outcomes for all.

Sustainable development for everyone specifically involves building a just transition, or managing the shift to a low-carbon economy in a way that is fair and inclusive, ensuring that no one is left behind.

Such responses work more broadly to meet, and ideally create synergies with the UN sustainable development goals (SDGs).

The three processes of mitigation, adaptation, and sustainble development for everyone together can be considered “climate-resilient development.”

The three aspects are related and affect each another. For example, initiatives that aim to support mitigation need to be adaptable to a heating climate or they could fail. Also, a community’s needs for adaptation are a function of how much warming is prevented by mitigation. And responses that are just, equitable, and inclusive are likely to strengthen the possibilities for mitigation and adaptation.

References

1 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (2023). AR6 Synthesis Report: Climate Change 2023. https://www.ipcc.ch/report/sixth-assessment-report-cycle/

2 https://globalecoguy.org/we-need-to-see-the-whole-board-to-stop-climate-change-98be66412281

3 https://climateactiontracker.org/countries/usa

Click to access United%20States%20NDC%20April%2021%202021%20Final.pdf

https://rhg.com/research/us-greenhouse-gas-emissions-2023/embed/#?secret=Jj3TeU8v8M#?secret=FlMJIU6o5c

The US commitment is to reduce emissions from 2005 levels (7.4 gt total and 6.7 gt net) by about half (50-52%) by 2030. The US is projected to achieve about half of that reduction (26-28%) by 2025.

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (2022). Mitigation of Climate Change. Contribution of Working Group III to the Sixth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel. See especially Technical Summary. https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar6/wg3/

See also the Moreworks bibliography

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Primer on subnational climate action

Subnational climate action means everything that happens below the federal level. Cities, counties, regional agencies, states, multi state coalitions, and interstate institutions set rules and invest public dollars.

Subnational policy shapes markets, unlocks private capital, and builds the record that supports durable national standards. It spreads a few ways.

First, it creates working examples. A city or state proves a rule or program can work, then peers copy it and vendors standardize around it.

Second, it builds markets that lower costs. Public procurement and utility programs create steady demand that pulls in manufacturing and finance.

Third, it uses planning and permitting authority to direct dollars and projects.

Fourth, it establishes a technical and legal record that supports stronger federal standards later. The result is a set of local and regional moves that add up to national behavior long before a federal rule arrives.

Cities and counties

Cities and counties control land use, zoning, building codes, building performance standards, and permitting. Building performance standards, often shortened to BPS, set energy or emissions limits for large buildings and drive demand for heat pumps, smart controls, and retrofits. Local governments run fleets and buy buses, trucks, and construction materials. Electrification ready codes and streamlined permits reduce soft costs and speed adoption.

Local action can also advance national practice when done together. Cities can adopt common templates for electric vehicle ready requirements, clean construction, and benchmarking. They can pool purchases of buses and trucks, share compliance tools and data, and align timelines. When many cities move in concert, vendors face one clear set of expectations, which speeds product development and lowers costs across the country.

Intrastate (or “sub-state”) regional agencies

Metropolitan Planning Organizations, known as MPOs, program federal transportation dollars through long range plans and a Transportation Improvement Program, called a TIP. Plans must conform to the emissions budget in the State Implementation Plan, or SIP. Some states also set greenhouse gas targets for MPOs. When MPOs shift funds toward transit, maintenance, safe streets, managed lanes, and charging depots, vehicle miles traveled, or VMT, grows more slowly and fleets electrify faster.

Transit agencies operate bus and rail systems and manage large depots and right of way. They plan service, buy vehicles, install chargers and grid upgrades, and coordinate street design with cities and MPOs. Major procurements of zero emission buses and charging equipment create predictable demand that manufacturers serve nationwide. Service that is frequent, reliable, and safe also reduces driving, which cuts emissions and improves local air quality.

Air quality management districts write rules and permits that feed into the SIP under the federal Clean Air Act. They target nitrogen oxides, called NOx, and volatile organic compounds, called VOCs, to meet health standards. Many regulate pollution from freight hubs through indirect source rules for warehouses, ports, and airports, and through tighter limits on combustion equipment. Because logistics networks operate across state lines, strong rules in major hubs push markets for zero emission trucks, cargo handling equipment, and cleaner industrial heat across the country. These rules also generate data and legal precedent that support stronger Environmental Protection Agency standards later.

States and utility regulators

States set greenhouse gas targets and pass laws that require cleaner electricity such as a Renewable Portfolio Standard or a Clean Electricity Standard. They update building codes and BPS, adopt appliance standards, regulate methane and industrial emissions, and manage siting for energy projects. States deploy funding from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and the Inflation Reduction Act, often written as IIJA and IRA. Many run green banks and use public purchasing through Buy Clean programs that prefer lower carbon materials.

Public Utility Commissions and Public Service Commissions, often shortened to PUCs and PSCs, regulate utilities. They approve resource plans, transmission and distribution upgrades, interconnection reforms, demand side programs, and rates. Early state action proves feasibility and lowers costs. PUC decisions unlock large clean power builds and improve reliability, which reduces national prices and risk for private investors.

Multistate coalitions and agreements

Governor led coalitions such as the United States Climate Alliance and sector agreements on zero emission cars and trucks align targets, timelines, and model policies. Harmonized rules reduce compliance friction, speed replication across states, and signal a stable market to investors and manufacturers.

Interstate regional agencies

Regional Transmission Organizations and Independent System Operators, known as RTOs and ISOs, operate wholesale power markets and plan transmission under the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, or FERC. They manage interconnection queues and resource adequacy. Stronger regional transmission, better queue management, and fair rules for storage and demand response enable gigawatt scale clean energy additions across multiple states. These changes lower costs for wide areas and make federal standards easier to implement.

Interstate carbon and fuel markets also create durable price signals. The Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, or RGGI, caps power sector carbon dioxide across several Northeast and Mid Atlantic states and invests allowance revenue in clean energy and efficiency. The Western Climate Initiative links California and Qu├ębec in a cap and trade system that covers multiple sectors. Low Carbon Fuel Standard programs, or LCFS, in California, Oregon, and Washington create credits for lower carbon fuels and for electricity used in transportation. Shared methods for measuring emissions and credits let firms operate at multi state scale and provide evidence that informs future federal rules.

Coalition of “Section 177” states

Under Section 177 of the Clean Air Act, states can adopt California vehicle emission standards after the Environmental Protection Agency grants California a waiver. These programs include Advanced Clean Cars II for light duty zero emission vehicle sales and Advanced Clean Trucks for medium and heavy duty sales. When many states adopt these programs without change, their combined market share creates a national trajectory for zero emission vehicles in practice. Automakers and fleet operators then plan and invest on a national basis, which supports stronger Environmental Protection Agency standards later.

Why subnational action matters

It accelerates scale and speed because local, regional, and state programs can move before federal rules arrive. It lowers costs because public procurement, utility programs, and regional power markets create steady demand that pulls down prices for vehicles, chargers, heat pumps, storage, and clean power. It protects public health because air and transportation actions reduce NOx and fine particles where burdens are highest. It builds the technical and legal record that federal agencies need to issue durable nationwide standards. It strengthens economic competitiveness because coordinated subnational demand anchors domestic supply chains and skilled jobs. It also preserves momentum if federal policy pauses because state and local action keeps progress moving.

Local codes and BPS spark demand for clean buildings and fleets. Intrastate regional agencies focus that demand at freight hubs and along major corridors and translate it into real projects and service. State laws and PUC decisions scale clean power and building electrification while deploying IIJA and IRA funds. Interstate agencies unlock transmission, fair market access, and consistent carbon and fuel signals, which lowers costs across many states. Multi state coalitions and Section 177 adoption align methods and timelines so companies face consistent expectations across very large markets. Federal agencies can then lift and lock in these proven approaches through nationwide standards.

Subnational action is the engine that turns goals into markets, turns markets into standards, and turns standards into durable national progress.

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Efficiency improvements through electric vehicles: You don’t know the half of it

Electrifying transportation seems like magic because the core machine is so much better at turning energy into motion.

A typical electric drivetrain is about three times as efficient as a gasoline one, and it runs on a fuel that can steadily move toward being 100% renewable and carbon-free.

EVs bring other benefits too, like quiet streets and low maintenance, but the headline is simple. Its superpower is efficiency. We are talking about roughly 0.27 kWh per mile for a mid-size EV, equivalent to about 125 MPG.

That gap alone is enough to deeply cut emissions as the grid cleans up. Yet there is another side to efficiency that most people miss.

The way most of us travel day to day is overbuilt for the job. One person, often alone, moving at low average speeds through city streets in a 3,000 to 5,000+ lb vehicle.

Most of the energy goes to pushing a heavy machine and a lot of air, not to moving a human body. On a typical urban trip, about 95% of the energy moves the vehicle, and only about 5% moves the person.

That is not a moral judgment. It is physics.

When you repeatedly accelerate two tons in stop-and-go traffic, you spend energy on mass. When you cruise with a large frontal area, you spend energy on drag. Either way, the human is the smallest part of the payload.

The battery-electric revolution opens the door to right-sized electric mobility that flips this ratio. Electric motors scale beautifully. They are compact, efficient, and happy at many sizes.

That is why we now have an entire family of vehicles that can deliver a full trip at a fraction of the energy. Think e-scooters, e-bikes and cargo bikes, mopeds, compact city EVs, and neighborhood electric vehicles. The savings are not subtle.

A typical e-bike uses about 10 to 20 Wh per mile. At the U.S. average residential electricity price, that is well under one cent per mile. A small neighborhood EV might use 80 to 150 Wh per mile, still many times less than a full-size car.

Compare that with a gasoline sedan at around 1,100 Wh per mile worth of fuel energy, or even a mid-size EV at about 250 to 300 Wh per mile, and the order-of-magnitude difference becomes clear.

Right-sizing brings other gains. Smaller electric vehicles need smaller batteries, which lowers cost and materials demand. They can charge from an ordinary outlet overnight. Parking gets easier. Streets get calmer. Air gets cleaner where people live.

These are resilience benefits as well. A household with a mix of light electric options can keep moving even during fuel disruptions, and a car with a modest battery can backstop outages at home with vehicle-to-load gear. Cities that shift short trips to light electric modes need less space and less money to move more people.

None of this argues against the mainstream EV. For many trips, a conventional car is the right tool, and replacing a gasoline car with an electric one cuts energy use by a factor of three or four before you account for the grid’s ongoing shift to renewables. It is simply that our efficiency story is incomplete if it stops at the car-for-car swap. The lowest-cost, lowest-carbon, and most space-efficient miles will often be ridden, not driven.

The good news is we are already living in this future. Most urban trips are short enough for light electric mobility. In the United States, roughly half of all trips are under three miles. That is e-bike territory for many people and many days, with weather gear and cargo options making it practical for more. Cities that add safe networks for small vehicles see rapid uptake, because the product is compelling. It is fun, fast enough, cheap to run, and simple to maintain.

If you want a simple mental model, use this. Electrification gives you a big step up in efficiency at any vehicle size. Downsizing gives you another. Stack them and you get both deep decarbonization and better daily life. We can triple drivetrain efficiency by moving from internal combustion to electric. We can multiply total-system efficiency again by choosing the smallest electric that does the job. The result is cleaner air, lower costs, quieter streets, and far less energy burned to move the same person from A to B.

So by all means celebrate the conventional electric car. It is a workhorse and a crucial climate tool. Then look at the rest of the electric toolbox and pick the right size for the job. The fastest way to win on energy and money is to electrify, and then right-size.