Methods and myths of sustainable development

Sustainable isn’t attainable when it comes to urban development and growth. Or at least that’s the prevailing perception many naysayers have, said Carolina Schmidt, Chile’s Minister of Environment  during the recent TEDxDaringCities session entitled: Embedding Climate Neutrality Ambition Through Sustainable Development.  Citing figures from the World Bank, Schmidt said that investing $40 billion USD in 

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Want to step up climate action in your city? Invest in your staff

Although they pave the way for national and international financial support, sophisticated emissions inventories are often the domain of the richest and most powerful cities. In other words, strong inventories often come from those with the resources to hire staff or pay third-party consultants to prepare those inventories. This perpetuates a difficult cycle: national and 

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When science meets policy and practice: Top 3 ways to achieve Paris goals

We need to dig in and build stronger links between climate science, urban policy and practice. The interconnection between the three perspectives is critical to creating coherent policy frameworks driven by hard data and scientific evidence, and informed by practitioner expertise. Urban areas account for about 70 percent of global energy-related greenhouse gas emissions, and 

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ICLEI’s take on what to expect in 2018: The year for a reality check

Last year ended with a sense that the momentum on sustainable development is durable. It was a hard blow when the U.S. backed out of the Paris Agreement, but the global and U.S. domestic response was swift and forceful. All in all, 2017 reaffirmed that nations, cities and towns, regions, civil society and the private 

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How Hiroshima became the first city in its region to prepare for a changing climate

To accelerate climate action and to protect residents from the negative impacts of climate change, the City of Hiroshima, Japan has set an ambitious long-term goal to cut emissions, while identifying ways to better prepare for intensifying climate risks. The city recently released a new climate action and adaptation plan which explains exactly how they 

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Building the architecture for global sustainability action: Time for strong coalitions

2016 marked the end of an important period in which nations sought political consensus around the global development agenda. They came to agree that sustainable development should, in fact, be the global agenda for change, consequently adopting major international agreements, like the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda and the Paris Climate Agreement in 2015. The New 

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Local governments: a united global force for climate action

Local governments show consistently strong leadership in mitigating and coping with the effects of climate change. They are taking action to improve their cities and towns, while rallying for greater climate ambition around the world. The voice of local governments is growing stronger and clearer as they become an increasingly unified force, backed by concrete 

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Climate action in cities: the key to closing the emissions gap and creating resilient communities

Local action is the linchpin of a climate-safe, resilient future in our cities and towns. This week, visionary local leaders from around the world are coming together at the Seoul Mayors Forum for Climate Change 2016 to pave a unified path towards stronger global climate action. —- Climate change is, as always, a hot topic 

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The Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate & Energy: the next frontier for cities and towns leading the way

By Mark Watts, Executive Director, C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group & Gino Van Begin, Secretary General, ICLEI – Local Governments for Sustainability When UN Secretary-General Special Envoy for Cities and Climate Change Michael R. Bloomberg suggested creating a Compact of Mayors to mirror the UN programme for national commitments on climate change, it was not 

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