The Climate Leadership Academy

Accelerating Local Solutions

The Climate Leadership Academy serves the urgent and rapidly growing need for more support to cities and communities that want to increase energy efficiency, create green jobs, reduce climate pollution, and strengthen their resilience to the local impacts of climate disruption. The Academy helps local climate and energy practitioners do their jobs better by connecting them to their peers in other cities and to leading national experts, providing easier access to the best available information and approaches, and facilitating dialogue and collaboration with their regional, state and federal counterparts.

The Academy helps bridge the growing gap between willingness and capacity to act at the local level by facilitating peer-to-peer learning and mentoring, and providing cities with easier access to the best available tools, resources, and practices. Building on nearly 20 years of experience, ISC is:

• Organizing intensive 2- to 3-day workshops on effective local climate action led by experienced practitioners from leading cities and national experts in community-based climate solutions;
• Developing resource guides that compile and synthesize the best available information—tools, studies, and practices—on topics ranging from building energy retrofitting to climate-friendly transportation to climate adaptation; and
• Coordinating a virtual peer-learning and networking program that connects workshop participants as they face new challenges and apply lessons learned.

The Academy builds the capacity of communities to use American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) monies and other funding sources to take smarter, swifter, more effective action to increase energy efficiency, reduce their dependency on fossil fuels, and strengthen their communities and economies.

Recent Accomplishments and Upcoming Events

• Together with Living Cities, a consortium of 21 foundations and financial institutions, ISC organized a Green Boot Camp at Harvard’s Kennedy School for senior climate, energy and economic development leaders from 16 US cities. The camp focused on best practices for improving, accelerating and scaling up integrated building energy retrofitting and green job creation initiatives in US cities. Download the Resource Guide here.
• In September 2009, ISC hosted its second Climate Leadership Academy in Chicago, partnering with the newly forming Urban Sustainability Directors’ Network.  In attendance were teams of senior transportation, planning, energy and sustainability officials from 16 North American cities. This Academy focused on best practices in climate-friendly transportation, smart growth and urban development. Download the Chicago CLA Resource Guide here.
• At least two more Climate Leadership Academy events are planned for 2010. One will focus on green job creation and the other on climate adaptation. Stay tuned to this website for details.

For more information, download our fact sheet or contact Steve Nicholas, ISC’s Director of Climate & Environmental Programs at snicholas@iscvt.org or 802-229-2907.