Thursday, 10 December 2015

World Council on City Data Statement on Climate Change Mitigation

   
The World Council on City Data (WCCD) has been closely following the events at the United Nations Conference on Climate Change (COP21) in Paris. Moreover, with a new pledge between major global cities to be delivered to the United Nations Secretary-General, the WCCD wholeheartedly supports this development and underlines the importance of standardized city data in setting goals and targets for the future and in monitoring and measuring progress towards those commitments. As a signatory to the Lima-Paris Action Agenda (LPAA) forthcoming “Paris Action Statement”, the WCCD fully supports city-led climate change mitigation targets.  

As cities represent about 55% of the global population and are responsible for around 75% of carbon emissions, they are strategically positioned to take effective climate action.  City mayors worldwide are setting ambitious objectives and plans for the reduction of emissions, and taking action on multiple fronts under their responsibility. Many seek to achieve 80% reductions in GHGs by 2050 or even achieve net zero emissions. 

To this end, the WCCD supports city-led initiatives that include:

High caliber city level data driving investment in the future of cities  – specifically the use of ISO   37120, the first international standard for sustainable cities

Targeted infrastructure investment to expand public transportation and create low-carbon mobility         solutions 

The scaling of local renewable energy production and improving energy efficiency in buildings

The expansion and innovation of sustainable waste management practices

Plans to encourage smart, compact growth and limit urban sprawl

Coordination and collaboration with the private sector to support innovative, data driven solutions

The WCCD supports the work of cities worldwide in reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, by identifying and disseminating data-driven solutions for cities, and global city learning through the exchange of best practices. As a global leader on standardized urban metrics, the WCCD will continue to work with cities around the world – as well as its international network of partners – to promote a future for cities that is sustainable, resilient, efficient and prosperous. 

The ISO 37120 standard not only supports the reporting of comparable GHG emissions data, but also enables data-based bench-marking and best practice sharing between cities in key climate mitigation and adaptation solution areas. These areas include: energy, transportation, water, waste, urban planning and public health.

The WCCD calls upon all cities to begin taking action on climate change, and re-states its commitment to become the preeminent, global body for standardized city data. This data, will be essential in mitigating the effects of climate change and re-shaping the future of cities (and countries) worldwide. 

Wednesday, 9 December 2015

Beyond COP 21 -- Nations and Cities Aligning for Climate Action

   
This week, national leaders from around the world are in Paris for the COP 21 conference to demonstrate commitment to emissions reduction and a renewed, global commitment to sustainability.
However, there is another group that will have a significant impact on emissions targets, a group that should have a more robust voice in the discussions. That group is cities, says WCCD President and CEO Patricia McCarney.

Tuesday, 8 December 2015

World Council on City Data and Hatch forge global partnership

   
TORONTO, Ontario – December 8, 2015 – The World Council on City Data (WCCD), a world leader in standardized city data and metrics and Hatch, a global engineering and consulting firm with expertise in the infrastructure, mining and metals, and energy sectors, yesterday announced a strategic partnership. As urbanization around the world drives new and established cities to find ways to achieve their social and economic goals more productively, understanding how cities can improve is key.

Hatch and the WCCD will jointly promote the critical role that ISO 37120 -certified city data can play in developing new solutions for planning and infrastructure challenges faced by urban communities in the twenty-first century. The two organizations also will build innovative tools to map and analyze urban trends and associated city responses. 

“High quality standardized data is key to understanding the complex and interconnected challenges facing cities. Once understood, it is possible to identify practical and cost-effective solutions,” said Professor Patricia McCarney, President and CEO of the WCCD and Director of the Global Cities Institute at the University of Toronto. “Hatch, as one of the world’s most respected engineering and consulting firms, is a great partner to drive this data-driven solutions agenda for cities around the world.”

"Together, Hatch and WCCD will provide a combination of practical, useful data and expertise on how cities can use this to meet their goals," said Martin Doble, Hatch’s Global Managing Director of Infrastructure. "In an era of increasing urbanization, this partnership will focus on providing better solutions to some of the toughest challenges facing cities, in ways that allow cities and communities to plan for real improvements and economic prosperity.”

As a WCCD lead partner, Hatch will join the WCCD Global City Leaders Advisory Board, chaired by Senator Art Eggleton, former mayor of Toronto. The WCCD is an initiative originally established in Ontario, Canada, and Hatch is a leading Canadian firm with project experience in more than 150 countries. 

Hatch and the WCCD have already started working together on data analytics, opportunities to optimize infrastructure investment, and growing the network of WCCD ISO-certified cities. Cities in Asia, Europe, North America, South Africa, and Australia are initially targeted as locations where comparable data in such areas as transportation, energy, environment, water, waste and emergency response will contribute to improved city planning and decision-making.


About World Council on City Data (http://www.dataforcities.org)
Established in 2014, the WCCD is operationalizing ISO 37120 across cities globally – the first international standard for indicators on city services and quality of life. With 100 indicators, around 17 themes supporting city services and quality of life, ISO 37120 data is accessible through the WCCD Open City Data Portal which allows for cutting-edge visualizations and comparisons. The World Council on City Data Foundation Cities include: Boston, Toronto, Los Angeles, Buenos Aires, Bogota, Guadalajara, Amsterdam, Barcelona, Helsinki, London, Rotterdam, Barcelona, Minna, Johannesburg, Amman, Makkah, Dubai, Haiphong, Makati, Shanghai, and Melbourne.


About Hatch (www.hatch.ca)
Hatch is an employee-owned, multidisciplinary professional services firm that delivers a comprehensive array of technical and strategic services, including consulting, information technology, engineering, process development, and project and construction management to the mining, metallurgical, energy, and infrastructure sectors. Hatch has served clients for over six decades with corporate roots extending over 100 years. With over 10,000 people in over 65 offices, the firm has more than $35 billion in projects currently under management.


For more information, please contact:

James Patava
Director of Communications, WCCD
Tel: 416-966-2368
Email: james.patava@globalcities.ca

Nancy White
Director of Marketing, Hatch
Tel: 905-491-7585
Email: nwhite@hatch.ca


Wednesday, 18 November 2015

Former Toronto City Manager Joe Pennachetti to join World Council on City Data and Global Cities Institute at U of T

   
November 18, 2015 - World Council on City Data (WCCD) President and CEO, and Director of the Global Cities Institute (GCI), Professor Patricia McCarney, is pleased to announce the appointment of Joe Pennachetti as WCCD Executive Advisor – Global City Strategy and as a Global Cities Institute Senior Fellow at the University of Toronto.  Mr. Pennachetti will focus on the growth of the WCCD city network throughout Ontario, Canada and internationally while working with colleagues at the University of Toronto in developing data analytics to inform city dialogues worldwide. November 18, 2015
 
“On behalf of the WCCD and GCI, we are delighted to welcome Mr. Pennachetti to this new role. His years of service to the City of Toronto, most recently as City Manager, mark him as an ideal champion to help expand the WCCD network and inform utilization of the data to build analytic tools at the Global Cities Institute for city leaders worldwide. We look forward to his input, intellect and strategic advice,” said Dr. McCarney. “Alongside Senator Art Eggleton – Chair of the WCCD Global City Leaders Advisory Board, and Richard Sommer - Dean of the Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape and Design at the University of Toronto – we would like to congratulate Mr. Pennachetti on this appointment and we look forward to working with him.” 
 
Mr. Pennachetti served for thirteen years as Chief Financial Officer and City Manager at the City of Toronto, Canada’s largest city and sixth largest government. Working through several administrations, he is widely credited with ensuring that Toronto’s service levels and cost efficiencies were enhanced through a progressive performance management program.  Mr. Pennachetti has also been one of the driving forces behind the creation of ISO 37120, the first international standard for sustainable cities.
 
For more information, please contact:
 
James Patava
416-966-2368
james.patava@globalcities.ca
 
Established in 2014, the WCCD is operationalising ISO 37120 across cities globally – the first international standard for indicators on city services and quality of life. With 100 indicators, around 17 themes supporting city services and quality of life, ISO 37120 data is accessible through the WCCD Open City Data Portal which allows for cutting-edge visualisations and comparisons. The World Council on City Data Foundation Cities include: Boston, Toronto, Los Angeles, Buenos Aires, Bogota, Guadalajara, Amsterdam, Barcelona, Helsinki, London, Rotterdam, Barcelona, Minna, Johannesburg, Amman, Makkah, Dubai, Haiphong, Makati, Shanghai, and Melbourne.

The Global Cities Institute (GCI) is housed within the John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape and Design at the University of Toronto. Focusing on research to create sustainable, resilient, inclusive and prosperous cities of tomorrow, the GCI has been integral to the development of ISO 37120 – the first international standard for sustainable cities. In addition to its work on developing city indicators for standardized urban metrics, the GCI also engages in the global smart cities agenda, the emergent field of para-diplomacy, as well as leveraging its unique and longstanding contacts with the City of Toronto (and cities throughout the world) as a bridge between academia and local government. The work of the GCI is supported by its extensive, international and multi-disciplinary list of Senior Fellows who are leading scholars in the fields of Architecture, Geography, Political Science, Urban Design, Engineering, Public Affairs, Urban Finance and Management, Urban Policy and Economics. 

Tuesday, 3 November 2015

Friday, 30 October 2015

Driving resource-efficient cities through the power of standardized data - New partnership between the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) & the World Council on City Data (WCCD)

   
October 30th, 2015 
New York - 

The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the World Council on City Data (WCCD) have signed a new partnership agreement to demonstrate the importance of standardized urban metrics to drive sustainability and resource efficiency in cities.

Arab Hoballah, Chief of the Sustainable Lifestyles, Cities and Industry Branch at UNEP and
 Patricia McCarney, WCCD President & CEO


The UNEP-WCCD partnership agreement, which aims to support informed policy-making, was signed today at the Global Forum for Human Settlements in New York by Arab Hoballah, Chief of the Sustainable Lifestyles, Cities and Industry Branch at UNEP, and Patricia McCarney, WCCD President and CEO.

Within the framework of UNEP-led the Global Initiative for Resource Efficient Cities, UNEP and the WCCD will work together with cities to pilot a resource efficiency toolkit, while also achieving WCCD IS0 37120 certification. ISO 37120, the first international standard for sustainable city indicators, defines a comprehensive set of 100 indicators that enables any city, of any size, to measure and compare its social, economic, and environmental performance in relation to other cities from around the world.

This pilot group includes, among other cities from around the world, Brussels and Johannesburg together with other cities globally. Johannesburg was one of the first WCCD 20 Foundation Cities to achieve ISO 37120 certification.

Dr. McCarney said: “This new partnership will further the shared goals of UNEP and the WCCD to help cities around the world to become more sustainable, resource efficient and prosperous through high-caliber city-level data.  UNEP and the GI-REC initiative is playing a leading role in addressing the complex challenge of resource efficiency in cities. It is highly appropriate the GI-REC toolkit uses the ISO 37120 city data standard as the core of its measurement framework.”

Mr. Hoballah said: “As the world seeks a global climate agreement at COP 21 in Paris in December, we are seeing that city action on climate change and sustainability is critical. Our partnership with the WCCD will demonstrate the value of the GI-REC and WCCD ISO 37120 certification to build city data, as an essential tool to drive policy making, planning and investment for resource efficient cities globally.”

Mr. Etienne Aulotte from Brussels Region said: “'The Brussels region sees great potential in developing a holistic approach to a circular economy through the UNEP/WCCD partnership. Working together with both institutions under the overall framework of the Global Initiative for Resource Efficient Cities, Brussels will use standardised data to promote resource efficiency at city and regional levels.'' 

With more than half of the world population currently living in urban areas, and three billion more city dwellers by 2050, urgent action is required to establish more sustainable and resource-efficient models of urban development.

In this context, detailed and up-to-date information and data on urban processes is essential: they help policy-makers to assess the impacts of policies and infrastructure investments, and can lead to better decisions and more effective actions. They contribute to support decision-making with physical and social science knowledge, allowing for comparisons across municipalities and regions. They can deliver early-warning signals to prevent or reduce the impacts of environmental, economic, and social shocks. Well-organized open urban data communicates ideas, thoughts and values, and is important in holding governments and communities accountable to their targets and goals.

For further enquiries, please contact:

James Patava
+14169662368
James.patava@globalcities.ca

“The World Council on City Data: Created by Cities, for Cities”
www.dataforcities.org
Twitter: @WCCityData

UNEP Cities and Lifestyles Unit
citiesandlifestyles@unep.org

 Notes to editors:
WCCD - Established in 2014, the WCCD is globally operationalising ISO 37120 – the first international standard for indicators on city services and quality of life. With 100 indicators, around 17 themes supporting city services and quality of life, ISO 37120 is supported by the WCCD Open City Data Portal which allows for cutting-edge visualisations and comparisons.

The World Council on City Data Foundation Cities include: Boston, Toronto, Los Angeles, Buenos Aires, Bogota, Guadalajara, Amsterdam, Barcelona, Helsinki, London, Rotterdam, Barcelona, Minna (Nigeria), Johannesburg, Amman, Makkah (Mecca), Dubai, Haiphong (Vietnam), Makati (Philippines), Shanghai, and Melbourne.




UNEP - The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) is the voice for the environment in the United Nations system. Through its range of work areas, including, for example, climate change, resource efficiency, and chemicals and waste, UNEP assists countries in implementing environmentally sound practices that promote sustainable development. Recognizing the growing need to address global environmental concerns from an urban perspective, UNEP works with national and local governments on urban environmental issues, supporting the integration of the environment into cities’ long-term strategic planning, and the implementation of policies that encourage sustainable, resilient and resource-efficient cities.


GI-REC - The Global Initiative for Resource Efficient Cities (GI-REC) is a UNEP-led initiative launched in June 2012 at the Rio+20 Summit. The initiative currently works with different stakeholders to promote energy efficient buildings, efficient water use, sustainable waste management and other activities. UNEP and its partners aim to assist cities in combining greater productivity and innovation with lower costs and reduced environmental impacts.

Thursday, 1 October 2015

CityNet and WCCD sign partnership agreement to promote city sustainability in Asia

   
CityNet and the World Council on City Data (WCCD) have signed a new partnership agreement, with the shared goal of helping cities in Asia become more sustainable, resilient, smart, prosperous and inclusive. The CityNet and WCCD partnership will provide support to cities in Asia that are interested in implementing ISO 37120, the first international standard for sustainable cities.

According to WCCD President and CEO, Dr. Patricia McCarney:

“This new partnership will further the goals of CityNet and the WCCD to increase support to Asian cities for data collection and data analysis to help build city sustainability. As the WCCD continues to operationalise ISO 37120, we look forward to working with new city partners, and revitalizing our links with our longstanding network of cities in Asia.”

The WCCD will be present at the Executive Committee Meeting and International Seminar in Sidoarjo, Indonesia and represented by Beth Lorimer. Please do not hesitate to contact Beth to speak to her about the work of the WCCD and how your city can get involved.

Tuesday, 8 September 2015

Dr. Patricia McCarney speaks to Cities Today about the new urban SDG

   




Cities Today US editor, Tom Teodorczuk spoke with Dr. Patricia McCarney - WCCD President & CEO and Director of the Global Cities Institute (GCI) at the University of Toronto - about the UN’s watershed moment for cities and her efforts to help cities make clearer sense of their present and transform their future.



Friday, 28 August 2015

From the President & CEO: From MDGs to SDGs - Now a Dedicated Global Goal for Cities

   

Dear Colleagues,

On Sunday, August 2nd 2015, UN Member States reached an agreement on the draft outcome document “Transforming Our World: The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development” that will constitute the New Sustainable Development Agenda and which will be formally adopted by UN member states in New York this September.

The 17 new Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) that replace the previous Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) are presented in the document. As you will see, whereas in the past, cities were not represented specifically in the MDGs, now, in the new SDGs, one of the 17 Goals for the new 2030 Agenda is dedicated to addressing cities – “Goal 11: Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable.”

As this important new document moves forward in the UN, the Global Cities Institute at the University of Toronto and its near decade of work in building globally standardized indicators for cities, culminating in the 2014 publication of the first ISO Standard for Cities – ISO 37120 – becomes a strategic partner for governments worldwide to set specific city targets and build globally standardized data to inform progress in achieving SDG Goal 11. ISO 37120 becomes a critical tool for tracking progress on Goal 11 and the Global Cities Institute and its partner organization – the World Council on City Data (WCCD) – are now working with the first 100 cities globally to be ISO 37120 certified, therein building a global open data platform to inform building more sustainable, resilient, inclusive and prosperous cites.

This is an exciting time for cities, academia, all levels of government, corporate partners and international organizations worldwide, and we look forward to working with all of you as dedicated colleagues in this global effort.

Yours sincerely,
Patricia

Tuesday, 9 June 2015

Friday, 8 May 2015

WCCD launches Open City Data Portal with the City of Los Angeles and the National League of Cities in LA

   


Today at the opening of the National League of Cities (NLC) event, “Big Ideas for Cities”, the World Council on City Data (WCCD) President and University of Toronto Global Cities Institute Director, Dr. Patricia McCarney launched the WCCD Open Data Portal, the world’s first open, online platform for globally standardised, verified and comparable city data.

Thursday, 16 April 2015

Saturday, 11 April 2015

New WCCD and ICLEI partnership to drive global action for standardized city data

   


ICLEI – the world’s leading association of cities working on sustainability – and the World Council on City Data (WCCD) – the leading independent organization working on city data – have formed a new strategic partnership to develop and promote the use of standardized city indicators.

Monday, 16 March 2015

WCCD and UNISDR to launch ISO 37120 in 45 cities

   


The World Council on City Data (WCCD) and the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR) have announced a collaborative venture to implement the new WCCD-hosted ISO 37120 standard in 45 cities around the world.

Friday, 13 March 2015

Monday, 9 March 2015

Monday, 2 February 2015

Sunday, 1 February 2015

Tuesday, 27 January 2015

Monday, 26 January 2015

Wednesday, 14 January 2015

Saturday, 3 January 2015