City-dwellers emit less CO2 than countryfolk: study

By Michael Szabo

LONDON (Reuters) - Major cities are getting a bad rap for the disproportionately high greenhouse gases they emit even though their per capita emissions are often a fraction of the national average, a new report said on Monday.

Published by the International Institute for Environment and Development, the report found that urban residents generate substantially lower greenhouse gas emissions, which scientists blame for global warming, than people elsewhere in the country.

"Although the concentration of people, enterprises, vehicles and waste in cities is often seen as a 'problem', high densities and large population concentrations can also bring a variety of advantages for ... environmental management," said the report.

The report brought together the findings of several studies published in the past 13 years to determine if cities have a disproportionately negative effect on global emissions.

"The real climate change culprits are not the cities themselves but the high consumption lifestyles of people living across these wealthy countries," said report author David Dodman.

He analyzed the per capita emissions from major cities in Europe, Asia, North America and South America.

According to the report, London emitted 44.3 million tons of CO2 in 2006, or 8 percent of the national total.

With a population of around 7 million, per capita emissions in London were only 6.18 tons per person, or 55 percent of the UK's 2004 average of 11.19 tons.