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With the international sustainable development discussions exploring the concept and new driver “Green Economy within the context of poverty eradication and sustainable development”, it is important and relevant to reflect upon its meaning for cities and urban areas. Cities and urban areas are a key dimension as by 2050 two-thirds of all humans will be living there. They represent 2 % of the Earth’s land surface, 50 % of the global population, and 70–80 % of the global energy consumption and CO2 emissions. At the same time there is a backlog in providing decent housing and infrastructure to one billion urban dwellers, while the global urban population will increase by another three billion over the next 40 years: a near doubling of the urban population to 6.2 billion.

Irrespective of a lack in any clear outcome from Rio+20 on Green Economy, or rather in the absence of any inter-national agreement thereon, the Green Urban Economy approach still embodies a call to local actors to investigate in particular economic benefits from environmental and social actions. It is a political and practice oriented concept, which connects the global significance of economic activities in urban centers and metropolitan regions with the challenges of the future. The proximity to economically active citizens and companies provide local governments a particular opportunity to realize their responsibility for city development and planning, which can influence private actions and lifestyles, as well as framework conditions for economic activities.

The finance challenge for building urban resilience and adapting to climate change is daunting, but the costs of doing nothing are even dimmer. As cities grow, they concentrate more people and assets, and with this, greater risk of economic loss. The costs of a single storm event on a city’s infrastructure and urban services can exceed US$ 1 billion. Of the estimated global adaptation costs of US$ 80–100 billion per year, 80% will need to be spent in urban areas alone (World Bank 2010). At the same time, international climate finance is failing to provide anywhere near such quantities.