January 2014: The World Bank’s Urban Development and Resilience Unit has launched a certification program for personnel working on city greenhouse gas (GHG) inventories, low-carbon planning and climate risk assessment. The goal of the City Climate Planner Accreditation Program is to promote a global certification standard to facilitate climate planning and investment in cities worldwide.

Currently, a range of methodologies is used among the 181 cities with emission inventories, 70 cities with climate risk studies, and 30 cities with comprehensive climate plans.

The initiative held its first stakeholder meeting in Gwangju, Republic of Korea, from 13-15 January 2014, where some 25 senior officials, researchers, and consultants from UN agencies, think tanks, and companies gathered to discuss GHG inventory methodologies. Participants agreed to launch personnel certification for city GHG inventories by the end of 2014, and to begin climate plan certifications by the end of 2015.

During the meeting, the Global Environment Facility (GEF) presented its city portfolio under GEF-6, which proposes two funding channels: Sustainable Cities Integrated Approach; and Low-carbon Urban Systems under the Climate Change Mitigation Focal Area, for its sustainable city portfolio. These channels will build on GEF’s existing actions to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in urban transport systems, which, as of mid-2012, had provided $292.5 million in funding to 50 projects in 90 cities. [GEF Press Release]