Giving Compass' Take:

• Rob Massoudi describes the measures some European cities have taken to electrify, and what lessons U.S. cities can take away to become more green.

• Which of these solutions are practical in your area? How can your city be adapted to facilitate greener transportation options?

• Read about the benefits of green infrastructure for urban cities.

Cities are at the center of the battle against climate change, but they're also at the forefront of addressing the challenge — and European cities are outpacing the U.S. in their solutions.

In an effort to increase efficiency and reduce waste, for example, the German city of Trier worked to integrate and digitize multiple municipal assets, including wind power, solar photovoltaic electricity, biomass, combined heat and power, water turbines, waste water turbines, sewer-gas plants, battery storage and EV charging infrastructure.

In 2003, London established congestion pricing in its central city to reduce the number of vehicles that enter the area. In 2017 they added a stiff charge in the same area for vehicles that don’t meet strict emission standards.

Now several European cities are taking similar steps. Oslo has replaced parking spaces in its downtown area with bike lanes, bike sharing stations, tiny parks and benches. Pushing the concept even further, London, Paris, Brussels, Madrid and others have announced “zero emission zones” (ZEZs), which will restrict traffic in their city centers to pedestrians, bikes, electric cars and delivery vehicles, and electrified public transit.

To avoid the catastrophic effects of climate change, we can't stop with e-mobility. Buildings often account for about half of a city's greenhouse gas emissions. Many cities are exploring legislation mandating that new construction will be all-electric and some cities require solar power generation on every new building.

So what does all this mean for the United states?

First, we have plenty of existing models to learn from. Second, we must not to wait for markets to drive our transformation. By then it will be too late. We need to accelerate our efforts.

Finally, we have the right technology to meet our goals, we just need to create new models for public-private partnerships that can jump-start transformation.

Read the full article about what US cities can learn from Europe to achieve a clean electric future by Rob Massoudi at Smart Cities Dive.