Even without having a detailed greenhouse gas emission inventory or a vulnerability/risk assessment, it is possible, in an intuitive format, to start identifying the most pressing areas/sectors where actions for mitigation and adaptation is needed at the local level.
If participants already know their city well, try this method and brainstorm challenges and opportunities for development in your city. Through their knowledge, you can quickly detect which issues are the most pressing in your community. This analysis helps to find out in which areas future projects can be located.
In a previous session, you identified the most relevant sectors for mitigation and adaptation in your city. Now it is time to think about specific measures in each of the sectors / fields of action / functions.
The main tool to turn the global goals of the Paris Agreement into action are the Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs). Local governments across the globe have primary authority over about one third of the potential for urban climate change mitigation; they therefore have a great impact on implementing the NDCs. However, many local governments are still not tapping this potential, and a series of recommendations can help to move towards a localisation of NDCs and to improve governance capacities / instruments for multi-level climate governance.
A climate change action plan describes short- to long-term strategy, including strategic goals, operational targets and specific measures, to reduce GHG emissions and adapt to the impact of climate change at your local level. It should be based on your own realities and consider the most pressing challenges.
It is often said that you can only manage what you can measure. Indicators describe the status quo of local sustainability and thus form the basis for the development of targets, which in turn form the “heart” of a strategy. Indicators measure the achievement of objectives and thus map the success of a strategy. Different data sets are needed in order to build the indicators, and it is important to understand what data sets are available at the local level.