Six principles to guide climate action in built environments

Climate change is a global problem, requiring collective action. Cities are central to human habitation and activity, and are major contributors to greenhouse gas emissions. Despite global climate change goals such as The Paris Agreement , barriers exist to taking adequate action in cities to address climate change. Decision making processes and policy in cities must be transformed to meet global climate change mitigation goals and reduce the risk associated with climate change impacts in a just way. We argue six decision and action principles are fundamental to effective climate change transformation in the built environment across global contexts: 1) Justice in decision making; 2) limit climate change to 1.5 °C; 3) adapt to beyond 1.5 °C of warming; 4) integrate all life stages; 5) collaborate across sectors; 6) coordinate with all actors. • We present six principles to guide climate action in cities. • 1) Justice in decision making, 2) limit climate change to 1.5 °C • 3) Adapt to beyond 1.5 °C of warming, 4) integrate all life stages • 5) Collaborate across sectors, and 6) coordinate with all actors • The principles can assist decision making by built environment professionals and institutions.