Press
Mexico City’s Climate Action Programme 2014-2020 (PACCM, in Spanish) was approved by the city’s Ministry of Environment in 2015. The initiative emphasizes resilience and adaption for Mexico City’s most vulnerable populations, recognizing the disproportionate impact that extreme weather events can have for lower-income communities, women and the elderly.
Read ProfileWhile Fort Collins has publicly committed to climate action since 1999, the City also recognizes the economic and quality of life improvements we can achieve by increasing that commitment. Accordingly, the City updated its Climate Action Plan in 2015 and has demonstrated how investment in climate action can make financial, social, and environmental sense. Communities in the Intermountain West of the United States are particularly vulnerable to increased temperatures, reduced snowpack, threats to water quality, increased storm severity, and other diseases and threats to human health. Fort Collins is no exception. These threats directly impacted the Fort Collins community through a major forest fire in 2012 and a major flooding event in 2013. Given that one in every four residents suffers from a respiratory illness, climate action is particularly urgent for Fort Collins. The plan was met with unanimous adoption by a non-partisan Council in a moderate community interested in pragmatic solutions to meet the ambitious goals. With that in mind, the fact that 80% of Fort Collins residents support the City’s climate action efforts is even more compelling.
Read ProfileIn the City of Chicago, building energy usage is responsible for more than 70% of the City’s carbon emissions. The cold nature of Chicago’s climate calls for intensive heating practices which significantly burden the local environment. In an effort to re-imagine how the City’s buildings are built and operated, Mayor Rahm Emanuel has, in partnership with countless organizations, including many local groups, developed Retrofit Chicago. This project not only alleviates the impact of emissions associated with building energy usage, but works to save Chicago residents money on their utility bills.
Read ProfileCopenhagen is already a leader climate action and now it will be potential the first city in the world to have a completely centralised building monitoring system. With a target carbon neutrality date of 2025, the city of Copenhagen has proven its dedication to ambitious climate action –– this initiative will only strengthen the City’s capacity to reach its climate goals. The initiative collaborates closely and shares experiences with a project called Energispring, directly translating to energy jump, which focuses on sharing energy data and best practices between large building owners.
Read ProfileDar es Salaam’s city centre is burdened with traffic congestion, which makes it difficult for urban citizens to get around the city and produces localised emissions associated with passenger cars and buses. The Dar Rapid Transit Project (DART) has developed a new Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) system for the city which will alleviate the transportation sector’s environmental burden and simultaneously make traveling within the city more accessible and affordable.
Read ProfileThe Hunts Point South Bronx Clean Truck Program (HPCTP) seeks to address poor air quality and pollution in the Hunts Point peninsula area in the South Bronx which is the origin or destination point of nearly 15,000 daily truck trips. The vehicle emissions associated with trucks in the area contribute to the abnormally high levels of particulate matter which cause respiratory problems and can sometimes fatally exacerbate pulmonary diseases, so much so that the Hunts Point community’s rate of asthma for both children and the elderly is twice that of the rest of the city and three times the national average.
Read ProfileThe Yangtze River is lined by cargo ships, sand quarries, factories, and chemical manufacturers. In an effort to counteract and mitigate the pollution associated with these entities, the Wuhan Comprehensive Rehabilitation Project of the Yangtze River Embankment River Beach has developed a plan to develop the waterfront to be more sustainable and resilient. By modifying the riverbank, the Rehabilitation Project will make space for alternative modes of transportation and will transform the previously under-used industrial space into a place people want to go.
Read Profile
In 2014, Washington, D.C. began drafting a new climate action plan which was ultimately adopted in 2016 by Mayor Bowser. In the interest of establishing climate change as a long-term concern for D.C., the plan does not have an identified end date. A formalized, fully-integrated plan is an important step in the direction of resiliency for D.C., which lies in a region that is particularly vulnerable to extreme heat, precipitation, sea-level rise, and coastal storms.
Read ProfileNearly a tenth of Auckland’s greenhouse gas emissions stem from waste, primarily due to the methane emitted by landfills. Domestic waste, collected kerbside, makes up a fifth of the City’s total waste, and, in 2011, half of domestic waste was made up of organic and garden waste. When organic waste goes to the landfill, it breaks down to release methane; if it is processed at a composting facility instead, emissions go down and the waste becomes a resource for the City’s agricultural sector. The Auckland Waste Management & Minimisation Plan (WMMP) has developed a mechanism for diverting the 65% of kerbside waste which could be recovered, re-used or recycled by assigning a price to waste sent to the landfill to reflect the true costs of waste disposal.
Read ProfileAs a leader in innovation and sustainability, the City of Phoenix is leading the way in driving a circular economy at the municipal level in the United States. To improve public health and reduce localised greenhouse gas emissions, the Phoenix Mayor and City Council established the Reimagine Phoenix Initiative in 2013, setting a goal to divert 40% of waste from the landfill by the year 2020. In 2016, this goal was expanded to achieve zero waste by 2050. Reimagine Phoenix recognizes the value in discarded resources and strives to create a circular economy and improve sustainability, while reducing carbon emissions.
Read Profile
Mexico City’s Climate Action Programme 2014-2020 (PACCM, in Spanish) was approved by the city’s Ministry of Environment in 2015. The initiative emphasizes resilience and adaption for Mexico City’s most vulnerable populations, recognizing the disproportionate impact that extreme weather events can have for lower-income communities, women and the elderly.
Profile
The City of Oslo has developed an ambitious plan to reduce GHG emissions by 50% by 2020 and 95% by 2030 compared to 1990 levels. Oslo stands as an example of sustainability for other cities and illustrates what a nearly carbon neutral city might look like. As a spearhead, Oslo has the unique opportunity to show what is possible in the later stages of sustainability planning and development. The City's Climate and Energy Strategy initiative does just this with the development of an innovative, radical vision of car-free spaces, carbon budgeting, and a sharing economy.
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While Fort Collins has publicly committed to climate action since 1999, the City also recognizes the economic and quality of life improvements we can achieve by increasing that commitment. Accordingly, the City updated its Climate Action Plan in 2015 and has demonstrated how investment in climate action can make financial, social, and environmental sense. Communities in the Intermountain West of the United States are particularly vulnerable to increased temperatures, reduced snowpack, threats to water quality, increased storm severity, and other diseases and threats to human health. Fort Collins is no exception. These threats directly impacted the Fort Collins community through a major forest fire in 2012 and a major flooding event in 2013. Given that one in every four residents suffers from a respiratory illness, climate action is particularly urgent for Fort Collins. The plan was met with unanimous adoption by a non-partisan Council in a moderate community interested in pragmatic solutions to meet the ambitious goals. With that in mind, the fact that 80% of Fort Collins residents support the City’s climate action efforts is even more compelling.
Profile
In 2016, the city of San Diego adopted a legally-binding Climate Action Plan, setting a new national standard as the 8th largest city in the United States. The plan has been developed as a living document and includes ambitious greenhouse gas reduction targets. By institutionalized a binding Climate Action Plan, San Diego has committed to pursuing lasting changes with support from the municipal government. San Diego is prone to drought and flooding events, both of which will be magnified by climate change –– the city’s forward-thinking Climate Action Plan addresses specific regional concerns in order to ensure the development of resiliency and innovation.
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The Austin Energy Solar Program demonstrates the power of community engagement within the renewable energy sector and outlines how strengthening the local economy can contribute to long-term climate resiliency. The programme is coordinated by Austin’s municipally-owned energy provider, Austin Energy, and enlists over 40 local contractors to help met its ambitious local solar goals, installing over 1,000 rooftop installations a year through the incentive program. Beyond increasing the number of solar arrays in Austin many times over, the programme expands solar beyond its traditional market, including through Community Solar offerings, and promotes policy and technological innovation –– with this approach, the programme has proven its ability to not only expand, but strengthen the role of solar power in Austin and beyond.
In the City of Chicago, building energy usage is responsible for more than 70% of the City’s carbon emissions. The cold nature of Chicago’s climate calls for intensive heating practices which significantly burden the local environment. In an effort to re-imagine how the City’s buildings are built and operated, Mayor Rahm Emanuel has, in partnership with countless organizations, including many local groups, developed Retrofit Chicago. This project not only alleviates the impact of emissions associated with building energy usage, but works to save Chicago residents money on their utility bills.
Profile
Many lower-income residents in Knoxville struggle to pay their utility bills every month — too often, even with the aid of utility assistance programs, families cannot cover the costs associated with older, energy-inefficient homes. The Knoxville Extreme Energy Makeover project (KEEM) offers a long-term solution that helps families control utility bills through energy efficiency upgrades and education. Through effective partnerships and a unique community-inspired design, KEEM has created significant energy savings and improved financial stability for thousands of Knoxville residents. KEEM is a partnership between the City of Knoxville, the Knoxville-Knox County Community Action Committee, Knoxville Utilities Board, Tennessee Valley Authority, and the Alliance to Save Energy.
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Copenhagen is already a leader climate action and now it will be potential the first city in the world to have a completely centralised building monitoring system. With a target carbon neutrality date of 2025, the city of Copenhagen has proven its dedication to ambitious climate action –– this initiative will only strengthen the City’s capacity to reach its climate goals. The initiative collaborates closely and shares experiences with a project called Energispring, directly translating to energy jump, which focuses on sharing energy data and best practices between large building owners.
Profile
The city of Qingdao is growing at a rapid pace. Acknowledging that population growth and urbanization can burden the environment with an increase in greenhouse gas emissions, Qingdao has established a plan to stay on top of future expansion. This initiative focuses specifically on the issue of heating, recognizing the negative impact that coal can have on the environment. In a forward-thinking, ambitious plan, Qingdao has outlined goals for emissions reduction which take future growth into account
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Vancouver’s Green Buildings Programme demonstrates that environmental and economic benefits go hand-in-hand by developing Passive House standard homes across the city. Changes to building standards in the City are of particular importance given Vancouver’s housing affordability crisis –– with more efficient homes, city residents can save on maintenance costs and energy bills while simultaneously reducing emissions.
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In an effort to mitigate CO2 emissions and improve air quality in Bangalore, the City has developed an Intelligent Transport System (ITS) to promote public transportation and reach more citizens. The Bangalore Metropolitan Transportation Corporation (BMTC) already serves 5.2 million people every day, so an expansion of the transportation sector’s capacity is a major undertaking. The City has allocated more than 10 million dollars in funding and 5 years to developing the ITS, hoping to change the way the citizens of Bangalore interact with their city.
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With the twin goals of improved quality of life and reduced environmental impact, the Barcelona Superblocks programme utilises a tactical urbanism approach to make the city more conducive to walking, biking, and public transportation. The Superblocks model is a way of organising the city based on reversing the distribution of public space among vehicles and people, giving priority to the citizen, to improve environmental conditions and people's quality of life. The Superblocks programme works to reduce Barcelona’s high levels of environmental noise by designating car-free zones within areas that are larger than a city block, but smaller than a neighborhood. This innovative plan is unique at an international scale and demonstrates that filling our streets with life doesn’t require major capital projects.
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Dar es Salaam’s city centre is burdened with traffic congestion, which makes it difficult for urban citizens to get around the city and produces localised emissions associated with passenger cars and buses. The Dar Rapid Transit Project (DART) has developed a new Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) system for the city which will alleviate the transportation sector’s environmental burden and simultaneously make traveling within the city more accessible and affordable.
Profile
As climate change progresses, City of Los Angeles residents, particularly disadvantaged communities, face a future of extreme heat, drought, and rising sea levels. Considering the already unhealthy levels of both particle and ozone pollution in the air, it is vital that the City acts quickly to eliminate pollutants which threaten the health of residents and contribute to rising levels of CO2. In 2015, as a means of beginning to mitigate these risks, the City published a comprehensive Sustainable City pLAn which outlines aggressive GHG reduction targets in both the long and short term. Vehicle emissions are particularly relevant to creating a sustainable Los Angeles given the City’s car-based infrastructure. In light of this, and in line with the plan’s ultimate 80% GHG reduction goal, the City has opted to focus on electric vehicle adoption for this initiative through a Request for Information bidding process.
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The Hunts Point South Bronx Clean Truck Program (HPCTP) seeks to address poor air quality and pollution in the Hunts Point peninsula area in the South Bronx which is the origin or destination point of nearly 15,000 daily truck trips. The vehicle emissions associated with trucks in the area contribute to the abnormally high levels of particulate matter which cause respiratory problems and can sometimes fatally exacerbate pulmonary diseases, so much so that the Hunts Point community’s rate of asthma for both children and the elderly is twice that of the rest of the city and three times the national average.
Profile
Hong Kong is home to over 7 million people, all contained within 1,100 square kilometers. The City lies alongside steep hillsides prone to acute landslide problems which have proven to be fatal on occasions. Given the region’s high levels of rainfall, the City is particularly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, which includes more extreme and frequent rainfall. The Landslip Prevention and Mitigation Programme (LPMitP) is a long-term programme launched by the City of Hong Kong to mitigate the risks associated with landslides and protect the City’s infrastructure
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As a delta, the City of Rotterdam is well below sea level and is, as a result, particularly vulnerable in the face of climate change. With and increased risk of flooding, temperature rises and water damage, any climate action steps are incredibly important for the city. The Rotterdam Roofscape programme has established a means of cultivating a widespread culture of sustainability by developing a range of roofscape projects.
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The Yangtze River is lined by cargo ships, sand quarries, factories, and chemical manufacturers. In an effort to counteract and mitigate the pollution associated with these entities, the Wuhan Comprehensive Rehabilitation Project of the Yangtze River Embankment River Beach has developed a plan to develop the waterfront to be more sustainable and resilient. By modifying the riverbank, the Rehabilitation Project will make space for alternative modes of transportation and will transform the previously under-used industrial space into a place people want to go.
Profile
In publishing the San Francisco Climate and Health Framework in March of 2017, the San Francisco Department of Public Health established the direct connection between climate change and local health. The Framework seeks to outline a set of potential solutions to localised health risks and strategies working toward community engagement, further demonstrating the very tangible ways in which global climate change impacts us locally. For San Franciscans this means higher temperatures, sea level rise, more severe droughts, more extreme storms, and increasingly poor air quality –– this Framework assesses the City’s vulnerability to a range of climate impacts and evaluates potential health risks for each one.
Profile
In 2014, Washington, D.C. began drafting a new climate action plan which was ultimately adopted in 2016 by Mayor Bowser. In the interest of establishing climate change as a long-term concern for D.C., the plan does not have an identified end date. A formalized, fully-integrated plan is an important step in the direction of resiliency for D.C., which lies in a region that is particularly vulnerable to extreme heat, precipitation, sea-level rise, and coastal storms.
Profile
Nearly a tenth of Auckland’s greenhouse gas emissions stem from waste, primarily due to the methane emitted by landfills. Domestic waste, collected kerbside, makes up a fifth of the City’s total waste, and, in 2011, half of domestic waste was made up of organic and garden waste. When organic waste goes to the landfill, it breaks down to release methane; if it is processed at a composting facility instead, emissions go down and the waste becomes a resource for the City’s agricultural sector. The Auckland Waste Management & Minimisation Plan (WMMP) has developed a mechanism for diverting the 65% of kerbside waste which could be recovered, re-used or recycled by assigning a price to waste sent to the landfill to reflect the true costs of waste disposal.
Profile
Every year, Buenos Aires residents are exposed to tens of thousands of tonnes of localised CO2 emissions associated with the collection and treatment of the City’s waste. The Buenos Aires Recycling Centre presents an innovative, holistic solution and is a testament to the City’s climate leadership. The initiative achieves both breadth and depth with its capacity for a range of waste streams and its focus on providing education for the community, and is the first of its kind in Latin America.
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Historically, Hong Kong’s sewage sludge was disposed of at landfills. Beginning in April 2015, the T.PARK facility converts sludge generated by 11 major sewage treatment operations into electrical energy via incineration. At a 2,000 tonnes per day capacity, T.PARK is the largest sludge incineration plant worldwide. As it stands now, Hong Kong produces about 1,200 tonnes of sludge every day – however, this number is expected to increase to 2,000 tonnes per day by 2030. The T.PARK facility is built with the future in mind and prepares Hong Kong for its growing population.
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Every year, New Yorkers generate 6 million tonnes of trash. After collection, processing, and decomposition, the City’s waste generates more than 2 million tonnes of CO2 all told every year. In an aggressive plan developed by Zero Waste, the City aims for a 90% reduction by 2030, measuring against a 2005 baseline.
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As a leader in innovation and sustainability, the City of Phoenix is leading the way in driving a circular economy at the municipal level in the United States. To improve public health and reduce localised greenhouse gas emissions, the Phoenix Mayor and City Council established the Reimagine Phoenix Initiative in 2013, setting a goal to divert 40% of waste from the landfill by the year 2020. In 2016, this goal was expanded to achieve zero waste by 2050. Reimagine Phoenix recognizes the value in discarded resources and strives to create a circular economy and improve sustainability, while reducing carbon emissions.
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