Raising awareness about climate change
ZeroCarbonCity is our global campaign to raise awareness about climate change and the energy challenges facing the world’s cities.
An increasing majority of the world’s population live in cities. A significant part of climate change is affected by the actions of people in these cities. That’s why we we're running a campaign that concentrates on the relationship between climate change and cities. Find out more about our ZeroCarbonCity campaign.
Climate change is caused by gases that limit the heat radiated into outer space by creating a blanket of greenhouse gases (the greenhouse effect) in the Earth's atmosphere. This trapped heat then increases the Earth's temperature. Water vapour has some part in the greenhouse effect, but it's the increase in carbon dioxide, methane, ozone and halocarbons that has been the greatest cause of climate change. Emissions of these four gases have increased over the past 300 years as a direct result of human industry and population growth.
As major energy consumers of energy, cities occupy an important position in the climate change debate. They are centres of innovation, where action is most likely to happen. Cities also have great potential to make a difference: change in cities can have a significant effect on the global situation.
The UK has shown international leadership in efforts to understand and tackle climate change. The British Prime Minister is committed to creating a low carbon economy, based on improved energy efficiency as well as new forms of energy generation such as fuel cells, offshore wind and tidal power. The UK Government has set a target of a 60% reduction in carbon dioxide emissions from current levels by 2050.
Starting from October 2005 we keep producing a programme of events in different cities of Kazakhstan to raise awareness of the UK’s commitment to tackling climate change and to encourage public debate of the issue.
Following the success of the centrepiece of the programme – the NSEW exhibition – in Almaty, Karaganda, Astana and Pavlodar, we are organising a project “Urban culture and climate change" with the main activities in Astana focusing on new developing Kazakhstan capital, architecture in Astana and climate security related issues. The key point of the whole project is adaptation to climate change, in particular to learn how existing buildings can be improved and what impact changing regulations for energy reduction will have on the way buildings look.
Within the programme we will organise a Forum “Contemporary city: architecture and ecology:” at L.N. Gumilev Eurasian national university, Astana on 15 November 2007. The whole project will consists of activities for young professionals in arts, science and journalism; DJ/VJs events, workshops for video artists, media workshop for young journalists, posters exhibition of new architecture in UK. "Old but New – New but Old", set of 12 posters explores and celebrates the diverse variety of urban regeneration projects that have grown up across the UK. The exhibition is provided by the British Embassy in Kazakhstan.
For more information about our Science work, please contact Botagoz Kulakbayeva. You can also visit the main ZeroCarbonCity website.
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