The paper is structured as follows. In the next section,we outline the
methodology used to identify trends in energy use and carbon emissions
and to evaluate the economic case for and potential impacts of
low carbon investment at the urban level. We then introduce the
three case studies. For each, we consider the relationship between
different levels of governance in each country, current patterns in energy
use and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, and the opportunities
for cost effective low carbon investment. We also discuss the crosssectoral
nature of the challenge by highlighting the distribution of low
carbon development opportunities across sectors. We then compare
the findings for each city, and identify some of the barriers to the adoption
of urban LEDS. This underpins a discussion about mechanisms to
improve coordination across different levels of governance and tomainstream
climate considerations into different spheres of policymaking.
We conclude by reflecting on the importance of building multi-level,
cross-sectoral climate governance frameworks if Asian cities are to
adopt and pursue urban LEDS.