Empirical insights into residual emissions in urban net-zero targets | Nature Climate Change (nature.com)

Concerning in-boundary carbon removals, all 103 Mission Cities (Fig. 2a) intend to implement land-based temporary carbon sinks, with carbon sequestration being either the prime intention or a co-benefit (Methods). The most common practice is urban revegetation and greening (98% of the cities), followed by soil carbon sequestration (84%) and forms of forestation or improved forest management (80%), sometimes combined with silvicultural practices (23%) and/or agroforestry (19%) (Fig. 2b). The use of forested material to enhance or protract the carbon sequestration is scarcely intended by Mission Cities, with timber in construction and other bio-based products mentioned by only 16% and 13% of them. Terrestrial wetlands restoration and blue carbon practices (including marine wetlands restoration) are considered by 28% and 33% of the cities, encompassing all coastal cities. Commonly, Mission Cities combine three or four temporary CDR options (52%). Best practices include land planning provisions to protect local green from urbanization pressures, plans for carbon buffers as reserves within sequestration projects (Dunkirk and Zagreb) and provisions to maintain the health and ecosystem services of urban greening (for example, 20 cities refer to irrigation or similar; Supplementary Information). Some cities pay attention to tree and plant species (Mannheim, Zaragoza, Lahti, Paris and Glasgow)...