This is a growing a list of resources organized by networks of cities, research institutions, cities doing outstanding work, and notable blogs and books.
​
Networks of Cities
​
Asian Cities Climate Change Resilience Network (ACCCRN.net)
ACCCRN is a network launched by the Rockefeller Foundation in 2008 to include 10 cities but now expanded to over 40 cities in India, Indonesia, Bangladesh, Thailand, The Philippines and Vietnam. The network connects professionals and cities in these countries with a focus on building inclusive urban climate change resilience (UCCR). ACCCRN has many partners, including for example, Global Consultancy of Urban Planners, Engineers and Economists (ARUP).
​
A unique feature of ACCCRN is that its inclusiveness means including the poor and vulnerable populations affected by climate change. It also means empowering these people in "building climate resilience, influence on urban agendas and on a regional resilient community. Of particular concern to ACCCRN is rapid urbanization as it takes place in cities most vulnerable to climate induced shocks and long term climate stress.
C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group (c40.org)
C40 is a network of the world's mega cities, headquartered in London, that have committed to addressing climate change to help the planet achieve the only 1.5 degree centigrade increase in global temperature target of the Paris Agreement on Climate Change. The group as of this writing includes 96 mega cities from all seven continents, totaling around 500 million people and over a quarter of the world's GDP. These cities collaborate on, share knowledge on and drive meaningful, measurable and sustainable actions on climate change. They do this through subject matter networks, including adaptation, air quality, energy and buildings, transportation and urban planning that convene periodically. C40 is facilitated by Bloomberg Philanthropies, Children's Investment Fund and Realdania.
Visit their web site to find their latest developments. For example, they have recently arranged with the McKinsey Center for Business and Environment to quantitatively assess the biggest opportunities for emissions reduction by city type. They are collaborating with some key players on a scenarios planning and modeling tool, Climate Action for Urban Sustainability (CURB) that will help cities make decisions on their energy, transport and waste management sectors that will reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate and Energy (Globalcovenantofmayors.org)
The Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate & Energy is an international alliance of cities and local governments with a shared long-term vision of promoting and supporting voluntary action to combat climate change and move to a low emission, resilient society. This is done by mobilizing and supporting ambitious, measurable and planned climate and energy action in their communities and by working with city/regional networks, national governments and other partners to achieve objectives.
100 Resilient Cities – Rockefeller Foundation (100resilientcities.com )
Promotes city residence strategies through a concept of cities hiring resilience officers, those officers being networked, and cities creating and then implementing resilience strategies. So far 80 cities have hired such officers and many resilience strategies have been completed. However, the focus in not on energy and resource conservation or climate change mitigation. More on preparation for natural disasters and development with equity.
US Conference of Mayors (usmayors.org )
Conference of Mayors Calls for Climate Action, which includes urging Congress to refund the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant Program to support local energy efficiency and greenhouse gas emission reduction programs.
​
International Research Networks on Cities Fighting Climate Change
​
Urban Climate Change Research Network (UCCRN.org)
UCCRN is an international consortium of over 800 individuals dedicated to the analysis of climate change mitigation and adaptation from an urban perspective. Its members are scholars and experts from universities and research organizations. They span a broad range of expertise including climate scientists; urban heat island and air quality experts; climate change impact scientists; urban designers and planners; and social scientists including political scientists, planners and economists.
​
UCCRN is run out of the Earth Institute at Columbia University and was established some ten years ago. It is organized around global regional hubs and fosters opportunities and information transfer for urban climate change adaptation and mitigation.
Institutions and Centers
​
Earth Institute, Columbia University (earth.columbia.edu)
The Earth Institute consists of dozen different research units and programs at Columbia University finding opportunities to work in an interdisciplinary fashion addressing various aspects of global sustainability. It combines the physical and social sciences, education and practical solutions. One of the programs of the institute is the Urban Climate Change Research Network (UCCRN).
​
​
Blogs
​
Cities: The Vanguard Against Climate Change: State of the Planet
Blog offering by Renee Cho, explains why cities are the greatest source of carbon emissions and climate change, are most effected by climate change and also, because of their density, are the best able to mitigate climate change. Cho goes on to summarize some of the network resources available and some of the sectoral approaches that are already in existence.
​
Books
​
Pioneering in International Urban Development, Creating USAID Policies and Programs 1970-1982
See especially Part 1, Chapter 1, Part 2, Chapter 10 on Managing Energy and Resource Efficient Cities [MEREC].
​
Leave a name or a link and we will add to the growing archive of resources about cities fighting climate change. If you are a representative of or are that resource, please provide a link to to yourself or your organization so that we can remain networked. Again we welcome all suggestions for improving or growing this CFCC site. It is at a very early stage of its development.