The Urban Sustainable Development Index: A Comparative Analysis of Low Emission Strategies in Urban Areas

Sustainable development is one of the key topics discussed today, where it has become the main ground for policymakers and decision-makers worldwide. Climate change, clean water, waste management, microplastics, poverty, and basic human rights are key terms defining the global challenges of the world as it is today. Governments and civil societies are actively participating in the active development that “Suits our current needs, without compromising the future.” In 2015 the United Nation’s sustainability summit was held at New York, where it introduced the 17 sustainable development goals (SDGs), which were an urgent a call for nations to take action globally and hand in hand, toward tackling the main sustainability issues such as tackling poverty, economic growth, human health, equal and better education, decreasing inequality, climate change, and the safety of the environment (United Nations 2015). Later that year, the Paris Agreement was adopted to address climate change and GHG emission mitigation, where it set the goal of maintaining the global warming limit below 2C and pushing the goal below 1.5C. The Paris Agreement also had the goal of supporting countries working toward these goals and raising their ability to mitigate the impacts caused by climate change (United Nations, Summary of the Paris Agreement, United Nations Framew. Conv 2015).