Q: The governments of the Mission Innovation Ministerial have committed to doubling their R&D investments on clean energy. How can this be directed to advance transformative climate action in cities?



Mayor Nanda Jichkar, Nagpur, India: India is projected to add 404 million people to its urban population between 2014 and 2050. Such rapid urbanization creates major stress – socially, politically, economically and of course environmentally. To meet these challenges, Nagpur has invested in becoming a smart city; we’re now the number one smart city in India. This mission is inherently tied to the fight against climate change, and I hope to see more R&D investments in clean energy and technologies that can make our cities more sustainable.



Maroš Šefčovič, vice president of the European Commission in charge of the Energy Union: It’s a big step to focus these dollars and euros on cities in the first place. For 30 years, governments have been spending a lot on new technologies and big-picture plans to address climate change, but there’s room for sharper focus on the local level. The E.U. has been good at this – for example, with our Smart Cities and Communities research program of about 100 million euros a year. But this needs to be a global effort.