Grants and Grantees / Close-Ups / International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives U.S.A., Inc.

What draws the mayors of Anchorage (AK) and Albuquerque (NM), Fargo (ND) and Fayetteville (AR), Sacramento (CA) and Sumter (SC), and 24 others from around the country to a climate meeting in the remote mountains of Utah? Aside from Robert Redford and the Sundance Institute that host the meeting, it's the international organization with a difficult name that's behind the proceedings: International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives U.S.A., Inc. (ICLEI.)

In the last few years especially, ICLEI has become the go-to organization for the fast-growing group of American mayors who want to take leadership on climate action in the absence of federal initiative. More than 400 mayors have signed their names to a Climate Protection Agreement, vowing to reduce their city's emissions by at least 7% by 2012 – what would have been the goal for the US had it signed the Kyoto protocol. No sooner does the ink dry on their signatures than they realize they are going to need technical assistance to honor their commitment. ICLEI is virtually the only game in town.

It's been an overwhelming opportunity for the US office, even though it has been established in San Francisco for more than a decade, quietly helping almost 200 cities reduce their GHG emissions through its Cities for Climate Protection (CCP) program. It's a five step process that starts with a CO2 inventory and ends with reported reductions. ICLEI has a piece of software that tracks the process and expert technical support staff to help cities along. In aggregate, CCP cities have reduced emissions by 23 million tons and have pocketed energy savings of $535 million.

ICLEI had been growing steadily, but nothing prepared it for the sudden surge in demand for its expertise. So with help from RBF and other funders who heeded its call, ICLEI is now rising to the challenge, expanding staff, opening regional capacity centers, and harnessing the power of strategic communications to serve this cadre of mayors leading the nation forward on climate change.

An article in Newsweek's 2007 global warming issue headlined “Mayors Take the Lead” announced “Lucky for us, America's local leaders are filling the vacuum” left by the federal “dithering” on climate and energy conservation. Lucky for them, they have ICLEI to turn to for assistance.

“We show them the low-, medium- and high-hanging fruit,” Michelle Wyman, ICLEI's executive director told the magazine, with the understatement and modesty characteristic of the organization that let's the mayors have the harvest. ICLEI knows that's the best way to maximize emissions reductions, and to leverage local mayor leadership for a global result.

via Rockefeller Brothers Fund: Close-Ups: : International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives U.S.A., Inc..