Partnership with C40

GCCA has partnered with C40 Cities of Climate Leadership (C40) to build the Cool Cities Network (CCN). CCN cities work together with technical experts to design, implement, and measure solutions-oriented approaches to promote sustainability by lowering urban temperatures.

The Cool Cities Network focuses on opportunities for cities to reap the economic, energy, health, environmental, and social benefits of reducing risks posed by heat waves and urban heat island effect through:

  • Tools and resources to identify the causes and impacts of heat waves and urban heat islands and to support design and launch of successful cool surface programs (such as cool roofs and reflective pavement)
  • Support development of city-specific action plans
  • Peer-to-peer and expert knowledge exchanges to share best practices, proven strategies, and data

The C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group
C40 was created in 2005 by former Mayor of London Ken Livingstone to reduce carbon emissions and increase energy efficiency in large cities across the world. Since then, C40 has grown from eighteen megacities to sixty-three members, who are working together to address the risks and impacts brought on by climate change both at the local and global level. C40 is committed to implementing meaningful and sustainable climate-related actions locally that will help address climate change globally. Their global field staff works with city governments, supported by their technical experts across a range of program areas.

CCN Cities
The CCN’s most active city participants include: Athens, Austin, Chicago, Changwon, Dhaka South, Houston, Los Angeles, Lima, Melbourne Mexico City, New Orleans, New York, Paris, San Francisco, Seattle, Seoul, Singapore, Tokyo, Toronto, and Washington DC

What are the Network’s Areas of Focus?
Drawing directly upon the expressed network objectives from participating cities, the CCN has developed the following network work streams:

  1. Measuring and mapping heat and UHI – Sharing heat wave and UHI modeling and mapping methods amongst cities including mapping health and other effects
  2. Technology solutions to mitigate heat – Sharing of technology solutions and tools to determine best fit for conditions including specifics to climate zone, industry vs. residential, historic preservation, and integrated solutions (cooling + solar PV + green + stormwater)
  3. Green infrastructure and biodiversity – Sharing programs to use green infrastructure for cooling (in addition to co-benefits) and biodiversity strategies for cooling and species resilience in face of heat
  4. Integrating heat mitigation into long term planning, codes and regulations – Mainstreaming, making the political case to prioritize heat-related planning, and building heat mitigation strategies into plans, building and infrastructure codes and regulations
  5. Financing heat mitigation activities : Developing a replicable cost/benefit analysis for private property owners and policy makers to install or implement cooling on their property.