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The intersection of heritage conservation and energy sustainability in UNESCO World Heritage cities presents complex legal and governance challenges. This article examines how Sweden, India, and the United Kingdom implement the 1972 World Heritage Convention in light of legal commitments to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the World Heritage cities of Visby, Jaipur, and Bath. While these treaties require State Parties to balance heritage protection with climate mitigation and adaptation, their domestic implementation varies due to differences in national legal frameworks, governance structures, and regulatory approaches. This article examines how these cities integrate energy sustainability while preserving their cultural heritage. It finds that Visby applies strict national and local laws that prioritize heritage preservation over visible energy interventions, permitting only limited sustainability measures within conservation frameworks. Jaipur allows regulated energy modifications, including solar installations, provided they adhere to architectural guidelines, and incentivizes heritage conservation through tax rebates and flexible land-use policies. Bath, while maintaining strict conservation controls, adopts an intermediate approach and integrates heritage conservation, energy efficiency and renewable energy policies in its local planning and management frameworks. This study highlights the legal and policy dynamics of localizing global obligations in urban heritage contexts by demonstrating that while all three cities align with international frameworks, they differ in the extent and manner of their implementation and interaction with energy sustainability.

Over 300 cities are inscribed on the World Heritage List. While each site has its unique challenges and opportunities, in each of them a balance must be achieved in protecting heritage values and meeting demands of modern life, including the demand for energy efficiency and the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. This article uses Visby (Sweden) as a case study to examine how conservation laws implementing the World Heritage Convention in light of international commitments to mitigate climate change can influence the balance between cultural heritage preservation and energy measures in historic sites. International laws must be implemented by states. But these national laws must be applied locally, in each heritage site. It is therefore important to examine how regional and local decision makers, including individual property owners, navigate and understand their obligations stemming from international laws in order to understand the impact and challenges in meeting sustainability goals in heritage sites. We find that while Visby’s World Heritage status promotes a high level of cultural heritage protection, restrictive laws alone fall short in achieving sustainability. Supportive factors such as funding, planning tools, knowledge support and dissemination, and community engagement help bridge these gaps. We recommend further support for financial incentives, place-based technological solutions, and collaboration amongst experts and others to help officials and property owners make choices that are sustainable from both energy and heritage perspectives.

World Heritage cities face the complex challenges of balancing cultural heritage protection with the UN Sustainable Development Goals, particularly reducing greenhouse gas emissions and achieving energy sustainability. However, implementing these commitments at the local level often presents challenges. Using the walled city of Jaipur, a UNESCO World Heritage site in India, as a case study, this article examines the impacts, opportunities, and challenges in implementing and applying international and national obligations to preserve cultural heritage in light of obligations to reduce energy use and greenhouse gas emissions in historic urban areas. This article is based on legal research, as well as 9 semi-structured interviews, which include one group interview with three municipal representatives and individual interviews with one state representative, five heritage professionals and consultants, and two heritage property owners. The results show that World Heritage status has enhanced cultural heritage protection while allowing measures toward energy sustainability. Traditional architectural practices, such as the passive climate design of havelis, are already energy efficient, while interventions, such as the integration of solar panels and adaptive re-use of havelis, demonstrate compatibility between heritage conservation and sustainability goals. However, there continue to be challenges, including limited expertise, capacity, and financial resources, while governance inefficiencies, commercialization pressures, inadequate support for residents, and limited community engagement further hinder progress. The study recommends strengthening the governance framework and enforcement mechanisms, providing targeted financial and technological support, and fostering inclusive collaboration and education among these actors to align heritage conservation with energy sustainability at the local level.

This article examines the effectiveness, legitimacy, and fairness of heritage conservation outcomes under the 1972 World Heritage Convention (1972 WHC), with a focus on recognising and respecting the rights of Indigenous Peoples in heritage nomination, protection, and management. Examining conflicts surrounding World Heritage sites in Kenya and Sweden, this article argues that recognition of biocultural heritage and biocultural rights can promote environmental justice and help meet global environmental challenges. To promote the conservation of both built and natural landscapes, the article recommends expanding protection for the relationship between humans and their environment. Recognising biocultural heritage under UNESCO conventions could promote Indigenous sovereignty, protect cultural and natural heritage, and contribute to global efforts to address climate change. The article calls for further research mapping biocultural heritage in natural and mixed heritage sites and advocates for fuller engagement with Indigenous Peoples to increase the ability of the 1972 WHC to promote sustainability as it enters its second half-century.