New Climate Alliance members

We heartily welcome seven new Climate Alliance members: in Austria the municipalities of Hörsching, Oberhofen am Irrsee, Ried im Oberinntal, Telfes im Stubai and Wildon; in Germany the municipality of Schöneiche bei Berlin and the Bundesverband Klimaschutz (Association for Climate Protection). Welcome!
As of February 2019, Climate Alliance membership includes 1670 cities, towns and districts as well as 63 provinces, NGOs and other organisations from a total of 26 countries.
www.climatealliance.org/nc/municipalities

Eider José Perafan Ramirez has died

In the beginning of January 2019 Eider José Perafan Ramirez, former member of the Executive Board of Climate Alliance and COICA Coordinator, has left us. As the leader of the indigenous Cubeo people in Colombia, he has fought tirelessly for indigenous rights and for the conservation of the rainforest. Eider José Perafan Ramirez served the COICA - Climate Alliance’s indigenous partner organisation - as Coordinator for Climate Change and Biodiversity from 2014 to 2018. In this function, he represented the COICA from October 2016 to October 2018 as Vice President in the Executive Board of Climate Alliance.
www.climatealliance.org/newsroom

The role of municipalities in the international climate process

The usual question after a climate conference “Was it a success or not?” cannot be answered so simply with yes or no. On the basis of the concrete objectives of the conference, it was a success, since a rule book could be adopted to accompany the further process. However, it is also very clear that the measures proposed by the national governments are still far from sufficient not to exceed the 1.5° target. The importance of local authorities for effective climate protection has thus grown even further. They should therefore be more closely involved in the development of national strategies and for more ambitious objectives.
www.climatealliance.org/events

UN Climate Secretariat recognises children’s action on climate

150,318 youngsters across 9 European countries took part in the 2018 Climate Alliance Green Footprints campaign. Together they collected some 2.2 million green footprints. Andreas Wolter presented footprints carrying the expectations of participating children as well as those of municipal representatives to the UNFCCC Deputy Executive Secretary, Ovais Sarmad. The ZOOM campaign encourages children to reflect on sustainable mobility and lifestyle choices.
www.climatealliance.org/newsroom/news

The consequences of the IPCC 1.5 Degree Report for Cities

A new publication which translates the key scientific findings and policy observations of the IPCC Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5°C for officials and policymakers of the world's cities and urban areas has been launched in English language. The science is clear: we have to act now to prevent catastrophic climate change and cities offer a unique opportunity to limit global temperature rise.
www.climatealliance.org/newsroom

Adaptation to climate change: Assessing risks and vulnerabilities

7 March 2019, Webinar from 11:00 - 12:45 CET

This Covenant of Mayors webinar is the first in a series on adaptation to climate change. Aspects of carrying out a risk and vulnerability analysis at local level will be explored. Practitioners will share their experiences on risk assessment and discuss which tools are available to support cities and municipalities in their efforts. The assessment of risks and vulnerabilities is the first step towards a comprehensive management of climate change. The next webinars will cover the entire adaptation cycle - from assessing risks and vulnerabilities, through designing an adaptation strategy and action plan, monitoring and evaluating actions as well as financing planning and implementation.
www.climatealliance.org/events

Conference “Empowering Neighbourhoods for Climate Action”

10 - 11 April 2019 in Arnhem, Netherlands

For successful implementation of climate mitigation and adaptation strategies, it is fundamental to involve neighbourhoods. Changing perspectives from top-down to bottom-up and meeting the residents at eye level are the key to create sustainable, long term results. The two day conference on neighbourhood approaches towards local climate action is the final event of the EU project “Climate Active Neighbourhoods” led by Climate Alliance. Read more on the conference website.
canconference.nl

Giving power to your city – the POWER Follower City Conference

12 April 2019 in Pisa, Italy

POWER Follower Cities and other interested municipalities are expected to attend the conference, who want to enable their inhabitants to become more involved in environmental and, in particular, water issues. The POWER project shows that the use of the POWER Digital Social Platform (DSP) can be an essential element of an innovative approach to civic engagement on the local level. The DSP encourages the sharing of knowledge and experiences on climate change and water issues (scarcity, safety, quality, consumption) between citizens, public bodies, companies and local authorities in Europe and worldwide.
www.climatealliance.org/events

Climate Neighbourhoods 2019

22 - 23 May 2019 in Heidelberg, Germany

The Climate Neighbourhoods (CN) will take place as part of the International Conference on Climate Action ICCA2019 of the German Federal Environment Ministry for the second time. The central question of the CN and the ICCA is how vertical and horizontal cooperation can lead to intensification and dissemination of activities on climate protection and adaptation to climate change. The Climate Neighbourhoods address actors from local governments, civil society and companies that are actively involved in climate action, and especially, young people and the interested public.
www.climatealliance.org/events

Climate Alliance International Conference

25 - 27 September 2019 in Rostock, Germany

Save the date. The Climate Alliance International Conference and General Assembly is the event of the year for all Climate Alliance members. You will learn more soon.
www.climatealliance.org/events

Fair on renewable energies and indigenous communities in Brazil

The first fair on renewable energies and indigenous communities will take place from 25 to 28 March 2019 in Manaus, Brazil. It will be organised by our partner organisation Instituto Socioambiental in Brazil, which is also involved in the Rio-Negro cooperation of Climate Alliance Austria. Together with representatives of indigenous communities in the Amazon basin, we will organise workshops and discussion rounds on the opportunities and challenges of renewable energies in indigenous communities. Climate Alliance will also be represented with a booth.
www.energiaecomunidades.com.br

The Better Together Award

This international competition is seeking collaborative innovations solving local climate challenges. It highlights the value of impactful collaboration between start-ups, SMEs or NGOs and local governments that jointly implement innovative solutions for effective climate mitigation and adaptation. The Better Together Award makes successful examples of such collaborative innovations visible to the world. It aims to inspire other local decision-makers and to support the scaling of successful climate action across regions and cities. Apply until 17 March 2019.
www.bettertogetheraward.org

CITY CYCLING 2019: The cycling competition for cities and towns worldwide

Registration for Climate Alliance’s CITY CYCLING campaign is open from 11 March! The campaign invites local politicians and the public to cycle for their municipalitiesand thus, to actively promote sustainable mobility and to become advocates of climate action. Participating municipalities choose 21 consecutive days between May and September during which the campaign will be implemented. The CITY CYCLING app allows participants to record the routes they cycle and make this information available to their municipality for the long-term planning of local cycling infrastructure. Last year, more than 295,000 cyclists in 885 municipalities participated!
www.city-cycling.org

Updated tool for adaptation to climate change

A revised version of the Urban Adaptation Support Tool (UAST), jointly developed by the Covenant of Mayors Office and the European Environment Agency, has been released. Users are guided through all the steps to develop, implement and monitor an adaptation action plan. The tool also contains links to valuable resources and guidance, case studies and examples for each step of the adaptation planning process. The tool offers support to both local authorities which are just starting on the adaptation planning and to those more advanced in the adaptation process.
www.climatealliance.org/newsroom

Online handbook on climate action in the Alpine region published

For three years, eleven active Alpine space organisations have been searching for common ways to bundle the activities of existing energy and climate action plans in municipalities in the PEACE_Alps project. The new online manual “Bundling of energy action plans and improving their implementation in the Alps” presents and comments policy recommendations and expresses success stories in the Alpine region by means of numerous pictures, videos and flipcharts. Read also the last issue of the PEACE_Alps newsletter about the final conference of the project in Bolzano and the project partners in the Alpine region.
mailchi.mp

Free tool for monitoring energy costs available until the end of February

Do you want to make energy consumption in your municipal buildings visible to all users? 50 municipalities in Germany, Great Britain, Greece, Italy, Malta and Spain are already doing this and are using the tool that was developed as part of the EU project EDI-Net on consumption data and sustainable energy policy. This enables them to keep a quick and comprehensive overview of their energy and water data. For municipalities that register in February (via Wolfgang Hofstetter, info@edi-net.eu), this service is free of charge until the end of 2019. Otherwise the amount of the fees depends on the number of buildings.
www.flipsnack.com

‘Change the Future’ tool now available in five languages

Shape your city together with citizens - use the online tool ‘Change the Future’ and start a playful competition on the topic of climate protection in your city. With this tool, we wish to show interested parties a variety of activities that individuals can complete – by themselves or as a community – to help shape the future and contribute to a good life for all. Test the tool, get in touch with us and start a local competition! The tool is available in English, German, Italian, Romanian and Croatian! More languages are coming soon.
www.change-the-future.eu

EU Sustainable Energy Week 2019 – EUSEW

17 - 21 June 2019 in Brussels and throughout Europe

The EU Sustainable Energy Week is the biggest event dedicated to renewables and efficient energy use in Europe. It is made up of a policy conference from 18 to 20 June in Brussels offering various networking opportunities, an EU Sustainable Energy Awards competition with a public vote for the citizens' award and local events, Energy Days, held across Europe throughout the months of May and June.
www.climatealliance.org/events