climate policy

What Can Chinese Cities Teach Us About Sustainability?

A view of Shanghai

Blogger: Michael Schmitz, ICLEI USA Executive Director

This article originally appeared on Environmental Leader, following Michael's April 2013 trip to China with Gov. Brown's trade delegation. Chinese local government leaders expressed strong interest in ICLEI's tools and guidance, and the climate and energy policies of U.S. cities. ICLEI will work to help connect Chinese and U.S. cities to share best practices.

Take a tour of China’s fast-growing megacities and you’re likely to come away astonished. Those of us who joined Gov. Edmund G. Brown, Jr.’s historic trade and investment delegation last week were struck by the sheer size and rapid scale of development in dozens of cities, from Beijing and Shanghai to Huangzhou and Guangzhou. But a closer look, past the infamous veil of air pollution, reveals a lesser-known reality with incredible potential: China’s vast efforts to build sustainable, low-carbon cities from the ground up and to massively retrofit existing ones.

ICLEI Goes to China With Governor Brown’s Delegation

Blogger: Michael Schmitz, ICLEI USA Executive Director

When I was asked to join California Governor Jerry Brown’s delegation on a historic trade and investment mission to China, I jumped at the chance. ICLEI brings together city leaders from around the world, and this mission offers a remarkable opportunity to strengthen ties between U.S. and Chinese cities, especially since climate policy and energy investment will be major topics of discussion during the trip.

ICLEI’s Federal Engagement to Champion Local Government Climate Action

ICLEI USA has kicked off 2013 with two busy months, engaging with federal leaders who have reached out to obtain our input on federal approaches to climate action and the role of local governments. ICLEI USA’s Executive Director, Michael Schmitz, has met several times with senior officials in the U.S. Department of State, including Under Secretary of State Robert B. Hormats. Schmitz has also led ICLEI’s response to a request for policy ideas from the Congressional Bicameral Task Force on Climate Change.

ICLEI is proud to act as the champion of cities and counties on climate change. Our mantra continues to be that local governments are leading the way on climate action, and that they must be further empowered to reduce GHG emissions and prepare their communities for climate impacts. In our latest federal engagement we’ve provided specific ideas and recommendations for how that can happen via federal agency action and local-federal collaborations. Read the details below.

STRONG Act: Proposed Federal Legislation to Support Local Planning for Extreme Weather

Proposed federal legislation announced today would support local planning to create more resilient communities in the face of increasing extreme weather events. The STRONG Act—Strengthening The Resilience of Our Nation on the Ground—was introduced this morning by Senator John Kerry (D-MA), Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), and Senator Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ). The bill has been endorsed by ICLEI USA's Policy Council of local elected officials. As this legislation develops, ICLEI will keep its local government members informed and engaged.

>> Bill Summary (pdf)

>> Section-by-Section Overview (pdf)

Former World Leaders Sign Accord in Little Rock to Expand Climate Action Financing

This week former heads of state, including President Bill Clinton, met in Little Rock, AR, for the Club de Madrid's annual conference, and signed a partnership intended to help direct what could amount to a major new influx of private investment toward sustainable technology and climate change solutions. ICLEI USA leadership attended the meeting and provided consultation throughout the process. North Little Rock Mayor and ICLEI USA Chair of the Board Patrick Henry Hays played a key role the event.

The Little Rock Accord is an action plan to help direct private sector finance, such as pensions, toward actions and technologies that reduce greenhouse gas emissions and promote climate resilience and sustainability. The Accord formalizes a partnership between the Club de Madrid, a non-profit organization composed of more than 90 democratic former heads of state from over 60 countries, and the P80 Foundation.

The Tides They Are A-Changin’

Guest Blogger: Alden Meyer, Union of Concerned Scientists:

Even as all too many politicians continue to question the very existence of human-induced climate change, cities and counties in Florida and other coastal states are already struggling with the reality of sea level rise and are looking at billions of dollars in expenditures to deal with its impacts.

Today, more than 120 Floridians with expertise on sea level rise — scientists, engineers, city and county officials, and others — sent a letter to President Obama and Governor Romney, asking them to address sea level rise when they’re in Florida on October 22 for the final presidential debate in Boca Raton and to say what they would do to help Florida and other states deal with this very real threat.

The Top Three Reasons Rio+20 Will Change the World

Vote for Maggie to be the official blogger for World Environment Day in Rio! Click “Vote Now” on the UNEP website below her picture or at the end of the blog and enter the security code. Please share with friends and colleagues! Voting ends April 30.

Though two months away, the UN Conference on Sustainable Development’s Earth Summit, better known as Rio+20, has already been labeled vital, momentous and historic. And while delegates, students and activists have yet to arrive in Brazil, we already know that Rio+20 has the potential to be a “big deal.”

It all begs the question, can the people engaging in Rio+20, in-person or remotely, really change the world?  My sage and inspiration for answering this question is Margaret Mead who said, “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.”

Simply, Rio+20 is about being part of that thoughtful group committed to "getting it right" for future generations.  The outcome and commitments of the Conference will affect us all, from the farmer in Iowa to the IT specialist in India, and whether you attend the conference or not, your voice can and needs to be heard.

After the COP17 Climate Talks: Time to Empower Cities

Two things are clear in the wake of the COP17 international climate negotiations in Durban, South Africa. First, time is not on our side in the fight against climate change. And second, the world needs to look beyond national governments for meaningful ways to reduce greenhouse gas emissions today. The leadership of local governments—on display in Durban—takes on a new level of importance. 

COP17 brought some welcome progress, but also grave concerns about whether national governments are moving fast enough to prevent catastrophic climate change. At the 11th hour of the final day in Durban, negotiators agreed to a wide-ranging deal that renews the Kyoto Protocol and sets in place a process for all countries, including major emitters like India, China, and the United States, to move toward a legally binding climate agreement by 2015, which would take effect in 2020.

Climate Action Can’t Wait

While many herald this as a significant step forward, the flipside is that again, nations punted the difficult work of setting greenhouse gas reduction targets and working to meet them. With each passing year that greenhouse gases spew into the atmosphere at alarming rates, it becomes more difficult to rein in climate change and keep the world from warming more than 2 degrees Celsius, the threshold beyond which scientists say climate change could be “catastrophic” for our way of life.  We can’t wait until 2020 to meaningfully reduce emissions.

Durban Outcomes: Nations Invest in Time, World Must Invest in Cities

As nations finally reached a deal at the UN Climate Summit, cities fear that the Durban Outcomes are insufficient to slow down the pace of global warming, nor foresee adequate resources for adaptation actions at the local level.

“The Durban Outcomes are a significant step forward to bring the deniers of the Kyoto Protocol back around the table and free countries of their hostage held by oil and coal lobbies. This is important to save our today, but too little and possibly too late to save our tomorrow. There is indeed a dangerous gap between now and 2020 which is the most critical period to ensure a global transition to low-emission, climate-resilient development.” says Gino van Begin, Deputy Secretary General of ICLEI- Local Governments for Sustainability.

“It is now urgent and more than ever necessary to mobilize and support the ambitious climate actions of local governments who have been zooming past nations.” 

Local Climate Progress Worldwide Captured in New ICLEI Report

Right now, in the absence of any international climate agreement (or national, for that matter), local climate action is what the world can count on. That's the takeaway from a new report release over the weekend by ICLEI's World Secretariat.

The carbonn Cities Climate Registry (cCCR) Annual Report was released at COP17 in Durban, South Africa on the world stage, to show the global community what goals local governments have set to mitigate climate change, what they've achieved so far, and what they can accomplish down the road, especially if their efforts are empowered by national and international agreements.

View the Report

This groundbreaking report, the first global snapshot of local climate action, quantified the performance of 51 cities in 19 countries, representing 83 million inhabitants and 447 million tons of C02e emissions per year.

The report underscores the importance of not only measuring GHG emissions to track performance, but to report those emissions to a platform like cCCR. ICLEI has long promoted the maxim, "you cannot manage what you cannot measure," and now we can to that, "we cannot count what we do not report."

What Have Cities Accomplished?

Here are the main takeaways from the report, pulled from the report summary, as well as recommendations for future action: