City of Fort Collins Leads on Cross-Departmental and City-Citizen Sustainability Learning with its One Planet Program
In many cities, economic and environmental sustainability is the purview of a single department, be it Parks and Recreation, Planning or, if the city is fortunate and funded enough to have one, a standalone Sustainability Office. Often, the concepts of sustainability stay cloistered away in this single department while the others carry on with business […]
Visualizing City GHG Emissions Data, Part 2: Taking Stock of City GHG Inventories
This Visualizing the Data series, written by ICLEI Technical Director Mike Steinhoff, gives life to the greenhouse-gas emissions reporting numbers pulled from ICLEI USA’s flagship ClearPath tool. Hundreds of U.S. cities have used ClearPath to initiate greenhouse gas emissions inventories — allowing for a science-based approach to inform decision making and climate action planning. Read […]
Visualizing City GHG Emissions Data, Part 1: Putting the Protocols Into Perspective
This Visualizing the Data series, written by ICLEI Technical Director Mike Steinhoff, gives life to the greenhouse-gas emissions reporting numbers pulled from ICLEI USA’s flagship ClearPath tool. Hundreds of U.S. cities have used ClearPath to initiate greenhouse gas emissions inventories — allowing for a science-based approach to inform decision making and climate action planning. Read […]
Climate Adaptation and Community Resilience Work at ICLEI USA
Communities across the U.S. already are facing challenges associated with the impacts of climate change. Extreme weather events, impacts on health and vulnerable communities, and adverse effects to infrastructure and economies strain the social fabric. Since 1997, ICLEI has understood the risks facing communities but also the steps toward resilience, providing technical assistance to cities, […]
U.S. Mayors Cross Party Lines to Reject White House Rollback on Climate Action
ICLEI USA mayors commit to bold climate action at the Cities and Regions Pavilion during COP21 in Paris. With the White House’s March 28, 2017, Executive Order Promoting Energy Independence, the Administration takes action to roll back critically important U.S. climate policies, including the Clean Power Plan and vehicle fuel efficiency standards, along with its […]
ICLEI Supports U.S. Local and State Governments in Turning the New Presidential Executive Order into a Call for a New Global Climate Leadership
Since President Trump took office, there has been growing concern among U.S. local leaders regarding the new administration’s stance on agendas critical to America’s future: namely environmental protection, clean energy, climate action. With his March 28 Executive Order, which adds to last week’s budget proposal, President Trump has once again taken an ideologically charged approach […]
ICLEI USA Affiliation Now Open to U.S. Colleges and Universities
More and more universities are undertaking inventories to analyze and track their greenhouse gas emissions. Higher education institutions also often play a significant role to support their host cities in conducting GHG inventories and developing climate action plans. In recognition of these trends and the important ways university students and faculty contribute to climate action, […]
Let’s Talk Communities and Climate: Communication Guidance for City and Community Leaders
The letter to ICLEI network cities below is from ICLEI USA Executive Director Angie Fyfe, published in the newly released report Let’s Talk Communities & Climate: Communication Guidance for City and Community Leaders. The report is designed to help experienced and novice climate change communicators by synthesizing the latest academic research and message testing on climate communications. Download the full […]
Toward 1.5 Degrees: ICLEI USA 2016 Annual Report
Spurred by calls from the communities most exposed to climate change impacts, the Paris Climate Agreement set the ambitious goal of limiting the end-of-century global average temperature increase to 1.5° Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial levels. The Paris Agreement includes Nationally Determined Contributions, reductions in GHG emissions by country — which offer this reality: […]
Turning Red Tape into Red Carpet: Santa Cruz Models Coastal Resilience and Green Business in Its Award-Winning ‘GreenWharf’ Initiative
The City of Santa Cruz sits on the fringes of California’s Silicon Valley, and is sometimes left out of the Valley’s regional affiliation. But in December 2016, the Silicon Valley Leadership Group acknowledged the City’s role as a valuable regional member and green business innovator for the Santa Cruz GreenWharf Initiative. The Silicon Valley Leadership […]