climate policy

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:

Update From COP17 for Local Governments

The 17th Conference of the Parties (COP17) got under way on Monday in Durban, South Africa, with the hope of moving closer to a global climate agreement. About 12,000 delegates are in attendance, including 200 from local government and municipal associations, including ICLEI.

ICLEI, as at previous COPs, is working to ensure that local and subnational governments are appropriately engaged and empowered in the design and implementation of the global climate agreement. In Durban, we are following up on our hard-won success at COP16 in Cancun, where for the first time local governments were recognized by the UNFCCC as official "government stakeholders" with a seat at the table for negotiations.

Ongoing updates from COP17 can be found on ICLEI's Climate Roadmap website.

Below is an overview of the key points that ICLEI is advocating for at COP17 (text pulled from ICLEI's Day 1 Daily Briefing from COP17).

A Comeback for PACE Programs? Fingers Are Crossed

PACE has a pulse. Today a group of Congressional leaders introduced legislation that would restore local governments' ability to run property-assessed clean energy (PACE) programs. The bipartisan PACE Protection Act from Reps. Mike Thompson (D-Calif.), Dan Lungren (R-Calif.) and Nan Hayworth (R-N.Y.) would again allow cities and counties to help property owners finance energy efficiency and renewable energy modifications for their homes and commercial buildings – without any government subsidies or taxes.

ICLEI USA enthusiastically supports the PACE Protection Act.

PACE programs have been proven to create local jobs and stimulate local economies, help property owners save money and energy, and help communities reach their energy and greenhouse gas reduction goals. A common-sense win-win-win idea that was nevertheless stymied by the Federal Housing Finance Agency's overreaching and myopic decision to block the programs last year.

Don't Let Congress Undermine Effective Climate Adaptation Planning

Climate adaptation planning efforts just took a hit at the federal level, and the move may put local communities at risk. We’re letting our local government members know so that you’re aware of how this could affect federal leadership to support local action. Luckily, there is still time to take action, if you’re moved to speak out.

On June 3, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a rider on the fiscal 2012 Department of Homeland Security (DHS) spending bill that would prohibit DHS (and by extension, FEMA) from participating in the administration’s Interagency Climate Change Adaptation Task Force. The Task Force is working to ensure that federal agencies factor climate adaptation into their planning, that their efforts are aligned to respond to climate impacts, and that they build partnerships and strategies with local, state, and tribal decision makers.

In essence, this action, if it moves forward legislatively, could hamper DHS's ability to effectively plan for climate impacts. One of the rationales presented was that DHS should be focusing its spending on issues of national security and not climate change. However, Congress should understand that DHS, as the parent agency to FEMA, acts as one of the front lines for disaster prevention, relief and recovery and thus preparing for the inevitable (and current) impacts of climate change is a crucial aspect of its mandate.

Weathering Change: Water, Climate Resilience, and Federal Policy

From American Rivers:

Climate change is fundamentally altering where and when water is available, and federal policy must adapt to this new reality. A new report from American Rivers, Weathering Change: 
Policy Reforms that Cost Less and Make Communities Safer, analyzes ten areas of federal policy and examines how existing laws and regulations promote or fail to promote resilience to a more volatile and uncertain climate. The report provides a policy roadmap for reforming existing policies and practices that make people and wildlife more vulnerable to floods, droughts, and other effects of climate change. These reforms will improve the reliability of water supplies, save money, benefit the environment, and provide communities with more flexibility to respond to climate change in the future. To view the report, please visit: www.americanrivers.org/weatheringchange.

ICLEI and C40 Partner to Set Global Standard on Measuring GHGs

ICLEI Global President David Cadman and C40 Chair and New York City Mayor
Michael Bloomberg announce a new partnership to benefit local governments.

By late fall 2011, ICLEI and the C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group aim to release a single international standard for how to measure greenhouse gas emissions at the community level. Last week the two organizations announced their landmark partnership at the C40 Cities Mayors Summit in Sao Paolo, Brazil, and it should be welcome news for ICLEI’s U.S. local government members that have worked with us to help pioneer greenhouse gas protocols.

A uniform measuring stick will only strengthen the work of local governments worldwide to mitigate climate change. It will allow all local governments to more accurately and consistently monitor their emissions reduction progress, and will provide standard guidance as local governments pursue environmental review, inventory verification, and other relevant policy making processes in their day-to-day operations. Right now local governments in different parts of the world are using inconsistent, competing methodologies to calculate their emissions from various sources (power generation, transportation, etc.), which makes it difficult for local governments to benchmark their progress.

“Establishing a single global standard for reporting greenhouse gas emissions will empower local governments to accelerate their actions and access funding for mitigation and adaptation projects,” said C40 Chair, New York City Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg. “This will enable new efficiencies and create a level playing field for comparing emissions across cities around the world.”

U.S. Local Governments Pave the Way

What will the new international protocol mean for U.S. local governments? It shouldn’t affect ICLEI USA’s Local Government Operations Protocol, but will bring modest changes to ICLEI’s International Emissions Analysis Protocol (IEAP), the umbrella protocol for the forthcoming U.S. Community-Scale GHG Emissions Accounting and Reporting Protocol. The Community Protocol will become the U.S. supplement to the new international standard, and will contain more specific detail than its parent protocol on things like calculation methodologies, data sources, and emissions factors.

Watch ICLEI’s Top 10 Sustainability Webinars

Have you been tracking ICLEI USA’s webinars for local governments? Over the past year, we’ve featured dozens of sustainability innovators who have shared their experience and expertise so that you don’t have to reinvent the wheel. Below, we’ve compiled our top 10 of the past 12 months. Click to watch them on demand, or download the presentation slides.

To keep up with our latest sustainability webinars, trainings, resources, news, and tips for local governments, subscribe to our free, bi-weekly ICLEI Connection e-newsletter.

Our Top 10, On Demand

Note: some webinars are for members only and require a website login.

1. Sustainability in the Master Plan and Zoning Code (Nov. 2010)
ICLEI’s most popular webinar of 2010. Midwest local government staff share perspectives on the role of the master plan and zoning code in creating sustainable communities.

2. Clean Energy and Sustainability as a Local Economic Development Strategy
Part 1: Saving Money, Expanding Markets, and Building a Talented Workforce
Part II: Leveraging Public Resources and Federal Funding (Nov. 2010)
Connect the dots between sustainability and prosperity. Learn from the leading experts ICLEI brought together for this popular two-part series.