2015 Year in Review: It Was Great!

Last year was an incredible one for our program. From the local to the global, we saw renewable energy take centre stage.

Cities like Vancouver and San Diego pledged to transform their energy systems by adopting a 100% renewable target while global RE capacity grew at an unprecedented rate.

What we did in 2015

With one year under our belt, we’re proud of our accomplishments:

1. Hosted a Global Learning Forum to galvanize a community of over 300 urban energy implementers. We keep hearing stories about a number of cities that have adopted or are considering adopting a 100% RE target since attending. (Even universities, like our own Simon Fraser University!)
2. Worked with the City of Vancouver to create the Renewable City Strategy. Vancouver is leading the way by going to 100% renewable energy in its electricity, heating and cooling, and transportation sectors and we played a big role.
3. 100% RE criteria and guidelines: At the invitation of our German partners, including the German Federal Environment Agency (UBA), we conducted a dialogue to shape criteria that will help guide cities in implementing renewables.
4. COP21 in Paris: We held a dialogue with a dozen cities on the opportunities and challenges of achieving 100% RE.
5. Facilitated and presented at events ranging from ICLEI’s World Congress in Seoul; to the World Future Council’s Future of Cities Forum in Beijing; to two public dialogues (Resilient Renewable Cities and Opportunities for GreenTech in a Renewable City) and at City Council in Vancouver.
6. Communicated: Wrote five op-eds (1, 2, 3, 4, 5) and two reports and sent over 2,000 tweets.

For more information, check out our 2015 Year in Review (PDF). The short story: With your support, we are putting renewable energy in cities on the global agenda! And it has all been made possible thanks to our primary funders, the North Growth and Sitka Foundations. If you’re interested in sponsoring our work, please drop us a line.

We’re very excited for what 2016 will bring. Most immediately, Renewable Cities is holding a session on cities at Vancouver’s signature GLOBE Conference & Expo next month. Learn more about the event and read James Glave’s interview with our own ED, Michael Small.

Lastly, we love hearing about what’s happening on the ground in cities in terms of implementing renewables and energy efficiency. Let us know if you’re working on an interesting project or have an inspirational story to tell.

Featured image courtesy of Flickr user irschick