Google’s Environmental Insights Explorer (EIE) and
the Orlando, Florida case study
Google’s Environmental Insights Explorer (EIE) is a free online tool that makes it easier for cities to measure, plan and act to reduce overall carbon emissions. Designed in collaboration through a long-term, foundational partnership with the Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate & Energy, EIE harnesses Google’s comprehensive global mapping data to estimate building and transportation carbon emissions and renewable energy potential. It can help local officials achieve key GCoM milestones - completing GHG emissions inventories, building climate action plans and policies, guiding solutions and measuring progress. In Orlando, Florida, for example, EIE solar data was used to assess and set a 100% citywide renewable energy (RE) target -- reaching a potential 4.3MMWh by 2050.
"Google's Environmental Insights Explorer gave us unprecedented visibility into our community's rooftop solar generation potential and the estimated economic and job creation opportunities of expanding solar in our City. EIE gave us confidence that we could set and deliver on an ambitious community-wide target of 100% RE by 2050." Chris Castro, Director, Office of Sustainability & Resilience, City Orlando, FL, USA
Google has recently streamlined registration for cities to quickly gain access to their EIE data, and will be conducting regional consultations to engage with cities directly. For GCoM signatories that would like to learn more about EIE, we encourage you to visit the EIE website, request data access for your city or local government, or express interest through the Global Secretariat. We will continue to share updates on a regular basis as more data and new features become available on EIE to support ambitious climate action.
Developing tools that support cities and local governments
GCoM is working together with Bloomberg Associates and the World Resources Institute to better understand the city climate action planning journey and the tools that are needed to support cities and local governments.
This project aims to connect cities and local governments to high-impact, user-friendly tools that eliminate barriers to climate-related data collection, planning, implementation, and monitoring, and will be completed by the end of the year.
Regions Updates
Latin America
GCoM permanent collaboration space in Latin America The Permanent Forum of National Coordinators and Presidents of the National Consultative Committees of the Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate and Energy in Latin America and the Caribbean was created to provide these actors with a permanent virtual space for exchange and institutional strengthening to foster the program. “The space was created because we realized that, although each country had its specific context, the difficulties they were going through were similar. At the same time we have activities being implemented at different rates in each country. This exchange is very rich and improves learning ”, explains Marja Edelman, Coordinator of the Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate and Energy in Latin America and the Caribbean. Learn more.
Enhancing Climate Resilience by Integrating Adaption Actions into City Development Plans
To develop local Climate Action Plans that is in compliance with GCoM’s Common Reporting Framework, GCoM Southeast Asia through IUC Asia proceeded forward with two Indonesian pilot cities, Makassar and Palembang, on June 11 and June 18 consecutively, for a virtual capacity-building session on “Integrating Adaptation Climate Actions into City Development Plan”. Read more.
SDGS Attainment and COVID-19 Pandemic: Refreshing local governments' commitment
UCLG ASPAC LOCALISE SDGs Programme, supported by the EU engaged local governments once again, on their commitment towards the sustainability of local development through a Web-Share discussion session on “Local Governments’ Commitment on SDGs Attainment after COVID-19 Pandemic.” Participating in the discussion session were representatives from the Ministry of National Development Planning, the Ministry of Home Affairs, and representatives of city and local governments in Indonesia. UCLG ASPAC was represented by Secretary-General Dr. Bernadia Irawati Tjandradewi. Learn more.
Sub-Saharan Africa
June 30th: Adaptation finance: A core component of post-COVID-19 economic recovery, the second edition of a webinar series, presented by ICLEI Africa in partnership with the Covenant of Mayors in Sub-Saharan Africa (CoM SSA), focused on the barriers that African cities face in unlocking finance for climate change adaptation. The webinar explored how African cities could unlock adaptation finance to ‘build back better’. Watch here.
Upcoming study: Finance Roadmaps for Climate Projects, to be released in July 2020. Click here for more info.
Japan
The Covenant of Mayors Japan has created a new leaflet on local and regional climate action, and delivered it to the heads of local governments nationwide. For more information and to download the leaflet, see the original article (in Japanese) here.
European Union & Western Europe
What will be the future of the Covenant of Mayors? Have your say!
Covenant of Mayors - Europe developed a survey to collect the views of local and regional authorities on the future of the initiative, whether they are already involved in the Covenant of Mayors - Europe or not. Filling in this survey should require less than 15 minutes. It is available in 23 languages. Have your say before September 15th. Learn more.
And the 3 winners of the 2020 Covenant of Mayors Europe Awards are...
Watch below:
Eastern Europe & Central Asia
This year, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Covenant of Mayors Office in Eastern Europe and South Caucasus celebrated the European Sustainable Energy Week 2020 in a digital format.“Small Talk with the Mayor” is a series of video meetings of CoM East Country Experts with the Covenant community in the Eastern Partnership region. Learn more or watch the series here.
COVID-19 Resources & Updates
UCLG - United Cities and Local Governments
Local and regional governments around the world are at the forefront of the current crisis, working together with communities and health authorities to mitigate the current outbreak of COVID-19 while maintaining an orderly functioning of public services in their cities and territories. The lastest sessions of the UCLG Metropolis UN-Habitat #BeyondTheOutbreak Live Learning Experiences were:
The 2020 High-Level Political Forum (HLPF) took place virtually from 7 July to 16 July 2020. Local and regional governments are proving that solidarity among territories and communities that is critical to build a future that leaves no one and no place behind.
Bloomberg Philanthropies
Bloomberg Harvard City Leadership Initiative, and Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health are hosting a series of Leading Social and Economic Recovery sessions:
Thursday, August 20, 1:00 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. US Eastern Time
The Global Mayors COVID-19 Recovery Task Force released their Agenda for a Green and Just Recovery. This report sets out the Task Force mayors’ collective vision for a green and just recovery, and the shared principles and ambitious actions for achieving it.
Alongside the agenda, they have published a number of implementation guides and expert views on the Knowledge Hub that align with the actions above. In Spotlight On: A Green and Just Recoveryarticles include:
The European Commission launches online public consultation for a new EU Adaptation Strategy
When it comes to the economic effects of the current health crisis, we must undertake a green recovery as an opportunity to make our society more resilient. This includes climate-proofing our economy, integrating climate aspects in risk management practices, and stepping up prevention and preparedness.
The online public consultation for a new EU Adaptation Strategy invites contributions from all levels of government, stakeholders and citizens to inform the design of the new EU strategy to withstand the climate crisis. A blueprint for the strategy accompanies the consultation in order to provide context, indicate possible directions of development and stimulate the debate. Have your say by August 20th.
Global Urban Lectures bring cutting-edge knowledge to all during COVID-19 lockdown
UN-Habitat’s most popular video series, the Global Urban Lectures, launches its 6th season. With over 170,000 views from 65 countries to date, the series of 15-minute video lectures features renowned experts discussing cutting-edge research and practical recommendations on advancing urban sustainability and the Sustainable Development Goals in cities. For more information and the schedule click here.
C40 Mayors’ Agenda for a Green and Just Recovery C40 released the C40 Mayors’ Agenda for a Green & Just Recovery, a detailed agenda for delivering a sustainable, equitable recovery from COVID-19. Led by C40 mayors from around the globe, the specific measures outlined in this report focus on creating green jobs, investing in crucial public services, protecting mass transit, supporting essential workers, and giving public spaces back to people and nature. Learn more
Enhancing Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) through urban climate action
This guide for Enhancing Nationally Determined Contributions through urban climate action provides practical opportunities for incorporating urban climate action and human settlement issues into the current NDC revision and enhancement process, drawing on existing knowledge and networks. Learn more.
IUC: City-to-city and region-to-region cooperation fostering sustainable development on a global scale
The IUC programme has recently released a publication, which looks back on all that has been accomplished during the programme, with a focus on understanding how city-to-city and region-to-region cooperation can be used to foster and support sustainable urban development and the localisation of global goals. The publication features good practice examples from 70 IUC pairings spanning 33 countries (including 22 EU Member States) and all IUC regions. Learn more.
Recover green: Higher NDC-Ambition through Collaborative Climate Action
GIZ and the Partnership for Collaborative Climate Action are pleased to present a Discussion Paper on how to increase ambition in NDCs through Collaborative Climate Action. A virtual launch event for the Paper took place on 16 July with inputs from Rwanda, Sweden, ICLEI and the lead author of the paper. The Discussion Paper outlines recommendations to the NDC update process, taking the Corona crisis into account. Learn more.
