Government innovation turns climate ideas into climate solutions

Rethinking how city governments work can deliver impact in the fight against climate change.

American cities are uniquely positioned to make an impact in the fight against climate change. For the 25 cities in the American Cities Climate Challenge, making major reductions in carbon emissions requires more than business as usual — it requires innovating how governments work to bring bold ideas to life.

Photo by Charl Folscher on Unsplash

GOVERNMENT INNOVATION THROUGH THE AMERICAN CITIES CLIMATE CHALLENGE

As hubs for innovation, cities have enormous potential to deliver impact in the fight against climate change; they have the talent, technology, and community partnerships necessary to incubate new ideas and create a more sustainable future. But at the same time, city governments often lack critical resources when navigating the complex challenges posed by the energy transition. The Climate Challenge was created to bridge this gap, providing impactful technical support for ambitious, cutting-edge action by 25 city governments.

The Climate Challenge fostered government innovation by spreading tried-and-tested solutions and helping cities bring bold ideas to life. Innovative approaches taken by Climate Challenge cities include:

1. Elevating the quality and role of data in decision making;
2. Collaborating across departments and with external stakeholders;
3. Engaging communities in the co-creation of solutions; and
4. Piloting and scaling experimental approaches to equitably reduce carbon emissions.

Read on to learn how cities used these innovative tactics to deliver climate progress.

DELIVERING RESULTS THROUGH DATA-DRIVEN GOVERNANCE

While many cities have innovative ideas to combat the climate crisis, they often lack the systems necessary to convert them into actionable plans. Climate Challenge cities have infused evidence into decision making, demonstrating how data-driven governance delivers better results at lower costs.

Indianapolis established a data-tracking and problem-solving routine to keep its expansive 59-item Climate Action Plan moving forward. City staff developed delivery plans with targets, trajectories, and clearly defined metrics to track the progress of each action item. They then set up regular meetings with the Mayor to discuss off-track items and develop solutions to get them back on course.

This simple routine has transformed the city’s ability to translate its ambitious vision into reality. Rigorously monitoring data and progress — and engaging the Mayor regularly — has accelerated the city’s trajectory toward its climate goals. This sustained focus has yielded results: The city-county council has passed important climate policies, like Transit Oriented Development and Energy Benchmarking ordinances that will encourage reductions in building energy use and spur urban density around public transit, respectively.

Importantly, Indianapolis has demonstrated progress to its residents by sharing updates transparently. Progress is shared on the city’s website, allowing residents to hold the government accountable for its promises. This level of transparency lends credibility to the city’s climate actions and helps to build trust, support, and constructive dialogue among residents by ensuring climate action is responsive to community needs.

ENABLING COLLABORATION ACROSS STAKEHOLDERS

City governments often face challenges coordinating on complex issues that span multiple stakeholders; bureaucratic hurdles and siloed structures create barriers to progress. New approaches to collaboration — across internal departments, with external community partners, and across jurisdictions — have expanded cities’ capacity to take on challenges.

Philadelphia encountered difficulties driving impact through aligned flood resilience initiatives — issues magnified by racial inequity — across multiple agencies. The city convened a Flood Risk Management Task Force to co-design goals, develop shared action plans, and enable ongoing coordination across relevant departments, including the Philadelphia Water Department, Department of Parks and Recreation, Office of Emergency Management, Office of Transportation, Infrastructure, and Sustainability, Office of Licenses and Inspections, and the Philadelphia Planning Commission.

This task force served as a forum for agencies to share information learned from local residents and put forth equitable, community-led solutions. Together, the team worked to ensure that the city was on track to implement these plans by strategizing with leadership to solve problems and securing the necessary support to advance these initiatives.

Introducing this organizational structure has helped Philadelphia break down silos to improve collaborative planning and unified action. It was critical to help the city develop long-term strategic plans to reduce inequities in the victims of heat and flooding.

New approaches to collaboration can also promote learning across jurisdictions. Seattle joined a Climate Challenge Congestion Pricing Cohort, designed to foster an exchange of ideas across peer cities working on policies to reduce air pollution and traffic congestion while building a more equitable transportation system through road pricing. The cohort allowed Seattle’s Department of Transportation and Office of Sustainability and Environment to learn and share best practices — like how to engage with residents during a pandemic and how to design programs that benefit the most impacted communities — and anticipate roadblocks faced by other cities exploring congestion pricing.

Seattle applied some of the lessons learned from peers in the cohort’s Pricing for Equitable Mobility workshops to its initiatives. The city engaged with Black, Indigenous, and people of color who serve on city-established equity-focused advisory groups to provide recommendations for how to proceed equitably with pricing policies. Together, this group will inform a racial equity analysis that will guide conversations about the role of pricing in meeting the city’s transportation goals.

The city is now in the process of developing its 2024 Seattle Transportation Plan, which aims to help the city meet its climate goals, while building a transportation system that provides all residents with access to safe, efficient, and affordable options to reach places and opportunities.

CO-CREATING EQUITABLE SOLUTIONS WITH IMPACTED RESIDENTS

The climate crisis disproportionately impacts communities that have been historically underserved and excluded from decision making. Cities have found novel ways to bring these communities into the decision-making process, enabling equitable and impactful citizen-led initiatives.

San José has an ambitious plan to equitably decarbonize its building stock, which produces 34% of the city’s emissions. Critically, this requires factoring in the city’s vast economic disparities — a contrast made stark by its surroundings in Silicon Valley — to make building electrification accessible to all residents.

To engage marginalized communities in designing an equitable strategy, San José launched a co-creation effort. Staff identified two local community organizations to lead this team: an environmental justice organization and a childcare and education services provider, both with a particular focus on serving the residents of East San José and helping immigrant families navigate life in the United States.

This team tapped into existing community networks and hosted public meetings to identify residents’ concerns and top priorities: housing and energy affordability, health and air quality, access to well-paying jobs, and reliable energy. They then co-developed proposals to address these priorities and mitigate displacement risks. After soliciting even more community feedback on the resulting draft framework and conducting public awareness outreach, the team submitted an Existing Building Electrification Framework, which City Council approved in June.

Rather than seeking public approval of already-developed proposals, co-creation means working together with impacted communities, from the outset, to design solutions. This process elevates community priorities, increases trust, and often results in more effective, equitable, and enduring programs.

PILOTING AND SCALING EXPERIMENTAL NEW PROGRAMS

Innovative ideas often evolve into effective solutions through testing and refining creative new programs. Climate Challenge cities have used this approach to pilot climate ideas in low-risk, small-scale experiments that allow them to gather evidence, adapt based on what works, and build community support.

One of Boston’s transportation goals — cutting single-occupancy vehicle trips in half by 2030 — faced a new hurdle after COVID-19 essentially halted commuting. To encourage residents to return to public transportation, Boston launched a pilot program offering pre-loaded transit and bike passes to 1,000 local employees from five of the city’s hardest-hit neighborhoods.

The results were impressive: Participants tripled their use of public transportation during the pilot, and also reported an ease in the financial hardship they were experiencing due to the pandemic. Interviews with users showed that they worried less about the cost of getting to work, increased their use of public transit for errands and leisure, or simply felt less stressed about money. These results built credibility and public support for the city’s ambitious climate agenda. Mayor Michelle Wu is now building on this success, launching a two-year fare-free bus pilot program throughout the city of Boston.

Saint Paul secured over $12.5 million to launch a fleet of 170 electric carshare vehicles and build 70 charging hubs throughout Saint Paul and Minneapolis. The city used a prototyping process, working with residents to co-design Evie Carshare, a community-based electric carshare program, to improve mobility in an equitable, climate-friendly way. This experimental design process helped define the program’s target audience and refine its pricing structure, resulting in a low-income membership rate.

Saint Paul also launched the EV Spot Network, placing 70 electric vehicle charging hubs throughout the Twin Cities. To ensure equitable access, the city prioritized locations optimal for low-income communities and communities of color. 90 percent of these hubs will be in “areas of concern for environmental justice,” helping to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in historically marginalized communities that have borne the brunt of climate change.

REPLICATING GOVERNMENT INNOVATIONS ACROSS THE COUNTRY

Climate Challenge cities are on track to collectively reduce emissions by 32% in 2025 — in part due to these innovations. Other cities can replicate these lessons learned to innovate how their governments work for and with their residents — and make a substantial impact in the fight against climate change:

• Track and report progress: Defining metrics to measure success — and publicly sharing progress — keeps projects on track, creates accountability, and ensures progress moves forward.
• Collaborate across stakeholders: Convening key stakeholders in collaborative structures with regular routines helps rise above silos and foster unified action.
• Co-create with residents: Engaging with the most impacted communities early and often can help ensure an equitable policy design that benefits all.
• Test and scale experimental ideas through pilot programs: Demonstrating results in small-scale pilots can lend support and momentum to innovative new ideas.

Bloomberg Philanthropies launched the American Cities Climate Challenge (ACCC) to provide powerful tools and support to 25 U.S. cities in their fight against climate change. To learn more, click here.