AsiaFlux-2026 Session Proposal

Urban Carbon, Energy Balance, and Climate Resilience

Conveners:         

Keywords: urban greenhouse gases; urban carbon flux; urban heat island; energy balance; weather hazard;

Against the dual background of global climate change and rapid urbanization, cities—as the primary source of anthropogenic carbon emissions (accounting for over 70% globally) and high-risk zones for extreme weather events—are facing unprecedented challenges for sustainable development. The stark urban-rural contrasts in carbon budgets, energy partitioning, and climate vulnerability have become increasingly prominent: while urban areas concentrate emissions and heat stress, rural ecosystems provide critical carbon sequestration services and climate regulation functions that benefit both regions.

This session focuses on three core dimensions: urban carbon flux estimation across scales, surface energy balance, and climate resilience building with explicit attention to urban-rural gradients and interactions. It aims to establish an interdisciplinary communication platform that integrates cutting-edge research findings from urban meteorology, environmental science, landscape ecology, urban planning, energy engineering, and other related fields.

This session will provide in-depth exploration of:

• Spatiotemporal dynamics of urban carbon emissions and sinks;
• In-situ, satellite observation and modelled urban carbon emission;
• Regulatory mechanisms of sensible/latent heat fluxes;
• Mitigation pathways for urban heat stress and other weather hazards;
• Air quality and climate interactions;
• Functional mechanisms of blue and green infrastructure.

We particularly welcome original research in frontier directions including: AI-enabled urban climate modelling; Nature-based Solutions (NbS) and low-carbon resilient urban planning.

Asian cities are at the forefront of global climate challenges, hosting over half of the world’s urban population while accounting for the largest share of global greenhouse gas emissions growth. Rapid urbanization has created unprecedented pressures: severe urban heat island effects exacerbated by high population densities, persistent air pollution-climate interactions, and growing vulnerability to extreme weather events in both megacities and rapidly urbanizing secondary cities. This session aims to deliver both theoretical innovations—through advanced understanding of coupled carbon-energy-climate systems specific to Asian urban contexts—and practical breakthroughs by co-developing context-appropriate solutions that can be scaled globally. By addressing region-specific challenges while generating globally transferable insights, this session seeks to make meaningful, tangible contributions to urban climate action.