The Resilient Pathway
Be ready for shifts and changes.
Prepare to put climate adaptation and risk preparedness at the center of your operations and planning.
Resiliency's Key Role
Through resilience planning, ICLEI members and project communities lay the groundwork for recovery following shocks and stresses. Resiliency-centered planning and development improve your ability to protect your community in the case of expected and unexpected disasters.
Our Approach to Resiliency
Assess
Understand your Vulnerabilities
Communities can begin to address resilience by characterizing the existing administrative, financial, technical, economic, and social factors that support or impede climate adaptation. Our local governments develop climate vulnerability assessments, often using the Temperate tool, in order to translate local climate data into insights for qualifying climate hazards and their community’s ability to adapt to change.
Act
Integrate Adaptation into your Operations
We assist communities to develop climate adaptation plans or integrated plans, which address climate mitigation, adaptation and equity in a comprehensive process. Members take advantage of funding announcements, technical assistance, and ICLEI’s network of knowledge to move from planning to action.
Accelerate
Collaborate and Lead the Movement
Our annual Daring Cities event brings the most daring adaptation and resilience actions happening on the ground to a global arena for mutual learning and acceleration. Local governments report adaptation progress through the CDP-ICLEI Unified Reporting System.
ICLEI USA Resilience Projects
Pennsylvania Local Climate Action Planning Cohort 2020-2021
Many local governments in the state of Pennsylvania do not have baseline measurements of their greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions nor the plans to act on
Iowa Climate Action Planning Cohort
The goal of this project was to help a set of Iowa communities move towards completing a Climate Action Plan. Photo by Austin Goode on
Sustainability Planning Member Cohort
This capacity-building cohort provides structured technical assistance to guide local governments through the steps necessary to develop a Sustainability Plan. A sustainability plan addresses social,
More Projects
- Communities in the New York Hudson Valley, including Hastings-on-Hudson and New Paltz, are using Temperate to develop community-driven climate vulnerability assessments.
- Integrated Climate Action Planning cohorts walk local governments through a multi-month, live group-training experience.
- CITYFOOD Network cities, including Minneapolis and New Haven are developing sustainability regional food systems.
- The Mountain Towns 2030 initiative brings together U.S. Mountain West communities facing similar challenges into an ICLEI training program to prepare for climate readiness.
- San Diego Bay communities create a coastal adaptation plan to prepare for sea level rise.
ICLEI USA Resilience Cohorts
Cohorts are guided group technical assistance programs that guide communities to results. Learn More.
Regional Climate Collaborative Cohort (RC3)
No Longer Offering This Cohort This 12-month curated guide of ICLEI’s five pathways: low emission, resilient, circular, nature-based, and equitable is an introduction to holistic
Sustainability Planning Cohort
This capacity-building cohort provides structured technical assistance to guide local governments through the steps necessary to develop a Sustainability Plan. A sustainability plan addresses social,
Integrated Climate Action Planning cohort
ICLEI’s Integrated Climate Action Planning (CAP) Cohort, is a structured technical assistance program to guide local governments through the steps of developing: Climate vulnerability assessment
ICLEI USA Resilience Resources
Science-Based Targets for U.S. Communities
Science-based targets (SBTs) are climate goals in line with the latest climate science. They represent your community’s fair share of the ambition necessary to meet
Cities Climate Law: A Legal Framework for Local Action in the U.S.
While local governments face considerable legal hurdles in enacting climate policy, they also have significant authority to develop novel policies that can slash greenhouse gas
Climate Week NYC: Create Opportunity and Climate Justice with Financial Accountability
The priorities of local elected officials have evolved from filling potholes and trash collection to addressing racial and economic inequality, exacerbated by the climate crisis.
More Resources
- Temperate, ICLEI’s climate adaptation tool available in partnership with Azavea through an annual license fee, offers communities an affordable way to assess climate hazards and address adaptation priorities using temperature, precipitation and other climate data specific to your community.
- Join the conversation in the ICLEI Community platform’s Adaptation & Resilience neighborhood.
- The CDP-ICLEI Unified Reporting System is a monitoring, verification and reporting platform for local governments.
Resilient Testimonials
“When our community started to investigate options for developing a Climate Vulnerability Assessment we weren’t sure how to tackle a planning project with such a wide scope and so many unknowns to plan for. The Temperate Tool fit our needs exactly. It has allowed us to focus in on the hazards and community systems at risk particular to our geography. We have been very pleased with how intuitive the tool is to use while being extremely comprehensive and would strongly recommend it to other communities.”
"The Town of Vail is a vibrant community nestled in a beautiful mountain ecosystem and that values sustainability and environmental stewardship. The recent COVID-19 situation has shed light on the importance of a strong and resilient community. Ensuring our community is able to persevere, adapt, overcome, and strengthen in the face of any adversity—from the impacts of climate change to a global pandemic—is vital. With deep roots to support us, we will grow and strengthen through this."
"As a coastal community, Hoboken has directly felt the impacts of climate change, including rising sea levels and more frequent storms. At the same time, we’ve invested hundreds of millions of dollars adapting to the realities of climate change, Big Oil companies have engaged in a decades-long campaign of misinformation that has contributed to global warming which has disproportionately impacted our residents. It’s time these companies pay their fair share and be held accountable for their actions."
"San Antonio is proud to join CitiesWithNature as a Pioneer City. Established on the banks of the San Antonio River over 300 years ago, our city continues to thrive by respecting our abundant natural resources. We know that caring for nature is essential to a sustainable future, and have prioritized biodiversity, green infrastructure and healthy ecosystems in our SA Climate Ready, Climate Action & Adaptation Plan. We celebrate this initiative and look forward to working together as stewards of our planet."
"Every community should undertake a climate vulnerability assessment and we feel privileged to have ICLEI's support as we launch ours. The assessment will help us plan for changing future conditions. It will also help us make investments now that will ensure the resiliency of our community after we are long gone. Climate adaptation is not a choice—it is a duty!"
Indiana University Resilience Cohort
“I am so thankful for having ICLEI as a partner in the Resilience Cohort program. Their technical expertise and the platform they have for providing support exponentially increased our ability to guide Indiana communities on their path towards climate resilience and greenhouse gas mitigation.”
