Working PaperCitiesRegion & Country StudiesTechnical Notes

The Contribution of African Cities to the Economy and Climate

This paper provides population, GDP and carbon emissions estimates up to 2030 for 69 cities across 35 countries in sub-Saharan Africa for which data is available (primarily with populations above 0.5 million based on new top-down analysis commissioned for the Global Commission on the Economy and Climate). Estimates of carbon emissions at the city level are typically unavailable – particularly for sub-Saharan African cities – and to our knowledge this is the first time that these calculations have been attempted. The analysis has been undertaken using the Oxford Economics’ Global Cities 2030 database (covering 750 cities) and other published data.

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Overview

Sept 2015

This paper provides population, GDP and carbon emissions estimates up to 2030 for 69 cities across 35 countries in sub-Saharan Africa for which data is available (primarily with populations above 0.5 million based on new top-down analysis commissioned for the Global Commission on the Economy and Climate). Estimates of carbon emissions at the city level are typically unavailable – particularly for sub-Saharan African cities – and to our knowledge this is the first time that these calculations have been attempted. The analysis has been undertaken using the Oxford Economics’ Global Cities 2030 database (covering 750 cities) and other published data.