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2024 Sustainability Planning & Implementation Cohort

2024 – 2024
USA
What we are doing
This capacity-building cohort provided structured technical assistance and peer-to-peer knowledge sharing to guide local governments through the steps necessary to develop a sustainability or climate action plan and effectively transition into plan implementation. Sustainability and climate action plans unite community stakeholders and government officials under a common vision with a set of goals and metrics. These plans help jurisdictions prioritize their strategies and effectively track progress toward organizational sustainability goals. The second half of this cohort moved beyond the analysis and planning cycle for climate action and sustainability planning to focus on the effective implementation of plans. This is particularly important given ICLEI USA’s observations, via the Ambition Gap Report, of local governments struggling to move from climate planning into implementation. To remedy this issue, ICLEI USA provided guidance informed by Ambition Gap report findings, such as cross-departmental collaboration, program accountability, evaluating and communicating the financial implications of climate change, sector-specific implementation strategies, and more. Over the course of the cohort, participating cities created an “implementable” climate action plan or an implementation plan of an existing CAP.
What we are achieving
ICLEI USA guided 44 local governments through the climate action planning process through an eight month cohort, with the added goal of creating plans with implementation in mind. To do so, ICLEI USA provided participants with:

– Twelve live, 1-hour web-based sessions every two to three weeks for eight months (May-December 2024). These sessions included presentations as well as group discussions.
– Peer exchange and learning, including circular solutions from cities throughout the U.S. and internationally
– ICLEI’s Sustainability Planning Toolkit, templates, and other resources

All content was informed by ICLEI USA’s Ambition Gap report, which identified common reasons why local governments are struggling to implement their plans. This ensures that the climate action plans produced through this cohort will result in real emissions reductions in the community.

Focus areas

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