Taking a co-benefits approach in five steps: cases from Bandung and Semarang, Indonesia

Co-benefits are the multiple benefits of actions that mitigate cli-mate change while addressing other development priorities. Many cities in Asia have potential to achieve co-benefits. Howev-er, urban policymakers often lack concrete demonstrations over which actions can maximize co-benefits. Since 2015, the Institute for Global Environmental Strategies (IGES) has been collaborating with local governments, researchers and other partners on pro-jects supported by the Ministry of the Environment, Japan (MOEJ) that analyse potential climate and air quality co-benefits in the transport sector in Bandung and Semarang, Indonesia. The analy-sis then helped arrive at practical recommendations that the two cities could implement to reduce greenhouse gases (GHGs) and air pollutants. The research employed an evidence-based ap-proach that could help other cities address air pollution and cli-mate change, while achieving sustainable development goals (SDGs) .