Study finds major cities can take climate change lead

By Jeremy Lovell

LONDON (Reuters) - The world's major cities are also among the planet's worst polluters but they have the solutions to most of their problems at their fingertips, a leading environmental consultancy said on Monday.

To make the case more compelling, consultancy McKinsey said that most of the available solutions would save more than they cost so made economic sense while the remainder still made environmental sense despite their higher cost.

"Most of this is doable and cost effective and worth doing irrespective of climate change," director Jeremy Oppenheim told a conference in London's City Hall to present the findings of the research sponsored by German industrial giant Siemens.

The study focused on London, a leading light in the international C40 grouping of major world cities which have joined forces to cut their contribution to global warming.

The United Nations says cities already account for three-quarters of global energy consumption and produce 80 percent of greenhouse gas emissions.

It is a figure set to grow as the percentage of the world's population living in cities rises from 50 percent now to 60 percent of the total by 2025 and 70 percent by 2050.

The McKinsey study noted that London, measured against four other major cities -- New York, Rome, Stockholm and Tokyo -- on six key environmental factors, performed relatively well on most counts.

Stockholm performed best on per capita carbon emissions from buildings, industry and transport as well as municipal waste and water but was worse than everyone but New York on air pollution.