Abstract
Meeting the climate challenge requires the leadership of metropolitan America. With two-thirds of the U.S. population and nearly three-quarters of the nation’s economic activity residing in the nation’s 100 largest metropolitan areas, urban centers account for much of the nation’s greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. At the same time, metropolitan America is the traditional locus of technological, entrepreneurial, and policy innovations. Its access to capital and a highly trained workforce have enabled metropolitan areas to play a pivotal role in expanding U.S. business opportunities while solving environmental challenges. With supportive federal policies, metropolitan areas can provide the low-carbon climate-smart leadership that is required to meet the nation’s targets and timetables necessary to avoid dangerous levels of atmospheric greenhouse gases.