During the United Nations climate talks in Paris, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti attended the Climate Summit for Local Leaders, a gathering of more than 500 mayors and municipal representatives from 115 countries that celebrated the importance of city leadership in global climate protection efforts. In advance of this event, Mayor Garcetti, who also served as the local host for a US-China local climate leaders’ summit in September, announced the release of the .

The report demonstrates the progress the city has made in reducing community greenhouse gas emissions since 1990 and its anticipated trajectory toward a low-carbon future. Between 1990 and 2013, Los Angeles community emissions decreased by approximately 20%. During the same period the city’s population increased by 10% and average personal incomes in the region increased by 18%, a strong indication that climate action and economic growth are not necessarily at odds.

The policies contained in Mayor Garcetti’s Sustainable City pLAn will result in additional reductions and put Los Angeles on the path toward achieving its target of reducing emissions to 45% below 1990 levels by 2025. Major initiatives within the plan include:

• Additional low-carbon electricity improvements by eliminating coal-fired power plants
• Increases in local solar energy generation through feed-in tariff, net-metering, and community solar polices
• Reductions in energy consumption through building efficiency programs
• Reductions in transportation emissions by promoting electric vehicles, reducing congestion thoughÌýsmarter traffic management, and further improvements to public transit, walking, and cycling infrastructure
• Improvements to recycling and organic waste diversion that will reduce emissions from landfills
• Reduced reliance on imported water by increasing conservation, storm water capture, and recycled water.

Mayor Garcetti’s leadership and strong support for climate action will help put the city on a trajectory toward achieving its long-term goals of reducing emissions to 60% below 1990 levels by 2035 and to 80% below 1990 levels by 2050.

91Ó°ÊÓ helped the city prepare the Climate Action Report by conducting an update of LA’s 1990 baseline inventory and 2013 inventory using the Global Protocol for Community-Scale Greenhouse Gas Inventories standards, developing emission forecasts, and reviewing emission reduction estimates related to the Sustainable City pLAn polices.

Culley Thomas is a senior strategic planner, climate and sustainability, with 91Ó°ÊÓ.

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The projects represent only the first wave GCF financial flows that areÌýanticipated to increase considerably if the Paris negotiations are successful. The GCF has already collected over US$10 billion from donor nations. With additional contributions, the funds will likely become one of the most important drivers of low-carbon development and climate resiliency initiatives in the developing world. The funds have a clear mandate to protect the climate, serve national development goals, and ensure movement away from business-as-usual technologies and practices. The GCF investment and project criteria will catalyze low-emission and resilient economic growth andÌýare expected to drive major transitions in the energy, water, transportation, forestry, and adaptation sectors.

Impressively, the GCF has moved from its initial launch to funding actual projects within less thanÌýa year. Even though the GCF has very strict selection criteria, nations have expressed considerable interest. In its first months of operation, 120 project concept notes and 37 full funding proposals have been submitted. Hela Cheikhrouhou, the GCF executive director, stated that after the Paris COP, the board of directors will develop a detailed strategic plan that will define how the fund will successfully scale to handle the considerable increase in investmentsÌýanticipated in the coming years.

If the organization’s momentum and the developed nations’ contributions continue, then the GCF is likely to become one of the critical elements in humanity’s effort to reduceÌýglobal emissions, protect the most vulnerable communities, and improve peoples’ daily lives.

Culley ThomasÌýis a senior strategic planner, climate and sustainability,Ìý91Ó°ÊÓ

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The pledges were announced at a 100 Resilient Cities (100RC) event where mayors from the cities of Addis Ababa, Rotterdam, Sydney, Bristol, and Paris discussed the challenges their communities face and their resiliency efforts. While the specific vulnerabilities described varied depending on local context, a common thread connecting the mayors’ statements was the importance of addressing both social factors and the traditional environmental factors (e.g., climate change and seismic risks). True city resilience will include both key infrastructure improvements and extensive social programs that improve economic conditions and social cohesion.

One illuminating example was provided by the City of Paris, who stated that it initially applied for 100RC funding to address environmental factors (e.g., urban extreme heat events), but after the events of 2015 (including the refugee crisis and terrorist attacks), the City expanded its concept of resiliency to accommodate a much broader socioeconomic context.Ìý The City of Addis Ababa similarly realized that true resiliency for their community will include a spectrum of actions from flood protection and public transit expansion to job creation, education, and public health programs.

All mayors stated that participation in the 100RC initiative has greatly increased their cities’ understanding of existing vulnerabilities and has identified critical strategies. Each city was pleased to describe the benefits that the planning process and a dedicated Chief Resiliency Officers provide and how such efforts will integrate resiliency into all aspects of City operations and policy development.

91Ó°ÊÓ is a strategy partner with 100RC, working alongside the chief resilience officers and their teamsÌýto help develop resilience strategiesÌýin 15 cities around the world, including San Francisco, Dallas, Oakland, San Juan, Montreal, Mexico City, Rotterdam, Sydney, Bangkok and Christchurch.

Culley Thomas is a senior strategic planner, climate and sustainability, at 91Ó°ÊÓ

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One of the new concepts to emerge at this COP is that cities’ sub-national-level actions should be able to count toward national emission reduction commitments. If agreed upon, this is anticipated to create funding opportunities for city carbon reduction initiatives within Annex 1 (major emitter) countries. Maybe even more importantly, this could expand access for cities in the developing world to climate financing from sources such as the Green Climate Fund. This could greatly facilitate implementation of urban sustainable infrastructure projects in the cities that most need them.

While the role of cities in global protection efforts is broadly recognized, some key barriers will need to be overcome before city climate action can be effectively integrated into national emission reduction programs. These barriers include:

• AÌýlack of guidelines and standards for city-level carbon emissions reduction quantification,Ìýmonitoring, reporting, and verification;
• Low levels of capacity within many cities to identify reduction opportunities andÌýfinancing options.

On Tuesday, at a forum with representatives from some of the largest cities in the world, the World Bank presented a pre-launch demonstration of itsÌýCity Action for Urban Sustainability (CURB) Tool (photo above shows Steve Hammer, World Bank, speaking at this presentation).Ìý91Ó°ÊÓÌýdeveloped CURBÌýin partnership with the World Bank. The toolÌýwill enable cities in developing and developed nations to identify and prioritize carbon abatement opportunities within their communities. It will beÌýformally launched in January 2015 and will be beta tested with cities globally.

Earlier in the weekÌýI attended a United NationsÌýHabitat meeting as a representative of the America Planning Association. The group of practitioners laid out a plan to develop a set of guidelines for climate action planning that willÌýharmonize methods used by cities, facilitate their access to climate financing, and better communicate the co-benefits of urban carbon abatement efforts such as air quality, sanitation, and mobility improvements. On Monday, World Resources Institute,ÌýC40,Ìýand ICLEI-Local Governments for SustainabilityÌýlaunched the Global Protocol for Community-Scale Greenhouse Gas Emission Inventories. .

The author (foreground-left) withÌýScott Muller (foreground-right), who helped the city of Lima implement a number of emission reduction initiatives, and city staff from Johannesburg’s climate team (background) at a stopÌýLima’sÌýMetropolitan BRT systemÌýMonday evening.

2015 will be an important year for the advancement of city action within global climate protection efforts. As part of the UN Compact of Mayors initiative, a large number of cities are anticipated to create baseline inventories and pledge emission reduction commitments before next year’s Climate Conference isÌýheld in Paris. In the next two to five years there will likely be a major opportunity to assist cities globally in all portions of their carbon reduction efforts. Considerable new funds from climate financing are likely to enter this space, and cities will be looking for assistance in all areas from strategic planning to development of low-carbon infrastructure projects. Ensuring cities have the capacity to turn their pledges into on-the-ground actions that reduce emissionsÌýand improve communities is the next essential task and opportunity.

Culley Thomas (culley.thomas@aecom.com) is a senior strategic planner, climate and sustainability, for 91Ó°ÊÓ.

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