Data and tools play a key role in supporting and accelerating climate action at the local level, where city leaders face complex interdisciplinary decisions, multiple priorities, and engagement with a diverse range of stakeholders. At the same time, the landscape of climate action support tools can be difficult to navigate- especially for cities with capacity constraints. Significant demographic shifts, technological transformation, budgetary constraints, and the unprecedented impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic are increasing uncertainty and placing pressure on municipal staff to make better decisions, faster. Making climate action support tools easier to use, data more accessible, and accounting for regional differences and local needs provides much needed support to cities with different capacities, and for those at different stages of their climate action journey.
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Understanding Data and Tools to Accelerate City Climate Action: A Decision-Making and Tools Project White Paper
The ‘Decision-making and Tools Project’ was conducted by the Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate & Energy (GCoM) in partnership with Bloomberg Associates (BA) and World Resources Institute (WRI) to better understand the city climate action journey, barriers to climate action and implementation, as well as to connect cities to tailored tools that address their needs, regardless of their experience, shape or size.
The scope of this project was limited to tools and resources focused on climate mitigation opportunities at the local government level. As a first step, the project mapped where gaps exist for cities on their climate action journey in the area of data and tools, identifying potential modifications that could deliver immediate value for cities, as well as initial recommendations for future tool development. Tailored, fit-for-purpose tools will be added to the GCoM resource library on a regular basis, and will be complemented with urban climate action policy and governance frameworks that allow cities to accelerate and scale-up their climate action initiatives through integrated and inclusive approaches.
Check out the new tools in the GCoM Resources Library!