The 25 cities that are part of the IUC-funded "GCoM Canada Showcase Cities" cohort convened in Montreal (Canada) in early January to join a three-day training programme aimed at building local capacity to act on climate change. Cities from across the country were greeted by the team from the Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM), ICLEI Canada and IUC. The EU Ambassador to Canada, Mr. Brice De Schietere, was also present to welcome the participants.

Over 40 staff from the cities represented were trained on the mitigation and adaptation components of GCoM through a series of presentations, group exercises and one-on-one expert tutorials. Participants also networked and shared ideas throughout the event, helping to build knowledge and accelerate climate action.

Lynn Robichaud from Burlington City gained a lot from the programme, explaining: “Burlington City Council declared a climate emergency in April 2019, recognising that our community is being impacted by a changing climate and that we have a collective responsibility to reduce emissions and improve resiliency. The face-to-face meetings in Montreal in early January provided us with the invaluable experience to network with the other Showcase Cities municipalities and representatives from FCM, ICLEI, the IUC and GCoM to learn about best practices and lessons learned. Burlington is just completing its community Climate Action Plan focused on the mitigation of emissions and is now embarking on the development of part two of the plan to develop an Adaptation Strategy. Staff are looking forward to further opportunities that the Showcase Cities program will provide to share information and ask questions related to our climate change actions.”

Canadian cities that are part of the cohort will work with the GCoM Canada team over the next nine months to develop aspects of their climate action plans, accomplishing GCoM badges while making plans for effective and ambitious climate action.

Header image by IUC North America.