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CDP and ICLEI launch a unified reporting system

 

What's happening?

CDP and ICLEI are partnering to present one unified process for subnational climate action reporting. This collaboration will make reporting on climate change easier for local and regional governments worldwide.

From April 2019, local and regional governments will report through one simplified entry point. By streamlining ICLEI’s carbonn Climate Registry (cCR) and CDP’s reporting platform, we will radically simplify how local and regional governments report and will better enable them to track efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and build resilience to climate change.

Crucially, local and regional governments will only have to report once on CDP’s platform. Publicly reported data will be automatically shared with ICLEI.

 

Why is it happening?

Local and regional governments will play a critical role in the low carbon transition to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius. Centralized reporting means that we have a clear picture of the scope and impact of subnational climate action, yielding data that can be leveraged to drive further and faster national and local action.

They have called for a unified reporting system to avoid reporting the same data multiple times. CDP and ICLEI have responded to this with a collaborative approach from 2019 onwards, building on each organization’s strengths.

 

What does this mean for reporting entities?

From 2019, local and regional governments will for the first time report climate action data through one unified reporting system. They will give their permission to both CDP and ICLEI to use their publicly reported data, and will receive in return the support of both organisations.
ICLEI will use this data to inform research and analysis activities and to represent local and regional governments on the global stage through our advocacy work.

CDP will use this data to produce analytics and snapshot reports for local and regional governments, allowing them to track their progress against their peers.  This data will be available on CDP’s website and Open Data Portal.

Reporting will remain free of cost, and the publicly reported data will be freely available online for all users that do not plan to use it for commercial purposes. We would encourage local and regional governments to report publicly as this strengthens subnational data and contributes to transparency and good governance.

 

How does this collaboration strengthen subnational data?

By streamlining the reporting process for local and regional governments subnational data will become more robust.

Due to this unified system, more local and regional governments will be reporting alongside each other and better able to benchmark themselves against their counterparts worldwide.

Local and regional governments can’t manage what they don’t measure. The reporting process encourages them to think about the climate risks that they face, now and in the future, in their respective jurisdictions. This process also motivates local and regional governments to create comprehensive action plans and set bold emissions-reductions targets.

More robust subnational data is also critical to raise climate ambition at the national level and to limit warming to a 1.5-degree Celsius scenario. A stronger picture of local and regional climate action supports national governments to scale up ambition and strengthens Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs).

 

FAQs

1. Where will local and regional governments report?

Local and regional governments will report once through CDP’s platform. Publicly reported data will be automatically shared with ICLEI. 

2.  As a reporting entity, will my level of support or mechanism of support change? 

No, the support previously provided will continue and expand. All local and regional governments that report through CDP’s platform by 10th July 2019, will receive support including access to CDP analytics that benchmark your local and regional government against your peers. CDP then also provides score feedback. 

For the ICLEI network of cities, towns and regions, the ICLEI World Secretariat will continue to provide data quality control services and provide feedback to improve the quality of reporting, as well as giving analysis and guidance. ICLEI Regional Offices will support with training and mentoring local and regional governments as they report.  

You will also have the opportunity to have your data featured in case studies, infographics and academic papers. 

3. What happens to our data once we report? 

CDP and ICLEI will both use the self-reported local and regional government data to provide robust analysis - collaboratively or independently - of the climate actions being taken at subnational level across the world. 

This data will also serve other ICLEI supported initiatives, such as WWF’s One Planet City Challenge (OPCC) and Sustainable Energy for All (SEforALL)’s Building Efficiency Accelerator (BEA) initiative. See the full list of ICLEI supported initiatives here.

CDP makes publicly reported data available on their website and through their Open Data Portal. CDP use this data to produce analytics, snapshot reports, and feedback for local and regional governments on their score. This allows local and regional governments to monitor their progress against their peers worldwide.

ICLEI will continue to use the data to shape and substantiate messages of the Local Governments and Municipal Authorities (LGMA) Constituency to the UNFCCC. These messages are shared with nations and UN agencies, to ensure that they are informed of subnational commitments, plans and activities. ICLEI is also working closely with other partners to call for  subnational contributions to be embedded in their respective Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs).

For Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate & Energy (GCoM) committed cities, the response data is also shared with GCoM, once it has been validated. 
 
4. What if my city is committed to the Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate & Energy?

Our new unified reporting system fully integrates the new Common Reporting Framework (CRF) of the Global Covenant. It is now one of two recognized GCoM reporting platforms along with the “My Covenant” platform of the EU Covenant of Mayors. 

By reporting through this unified reporting system, your city will continue to be a part of the GCoM. If you reported data to GCoM through the CDP or cCR platforms in the past, that data has been transferred to the GCoM Secretariat already.

Your GCoM data will be checked after you submit your 2019 response. You will be updated on this process in the coming months. 

5. What if my city is committed to the EU Covenant of Mayors for Climate & Energy?

If you are committed to the EU Covenant of Mayors then you can either choose to report through our new unified reporting system or the My Covenant platform. If you chose to report through CDP and ICLEI’s unified reporting system then your data will be shared with the EU Covenant of Mayors for Climate & Energy.

6. How do I report to WWF’s One Planet City Challenge in 2019?

Reporting for this challenge will open in April 2019 and you can submit your response through CDP’s platform. WWF and ICLEI will support participating cities through the reporting process. 

7. What happens if I reported through CDP’s platform before but not through cCR?

You can continue reporting as usual. If you report publicly, your data will be shared with ICLEI. 

8. What happens if I reported through both CDP’s platform and cCR in 2018?

You now only have to report once through CDP’s platform, and your data will be shared with ICLEI.

9. What happens if I reported through cCR before but not through CDP? 

You should report through CDP’s platform in 2019, and the data will be automatically shared with ICLEI. The services you previously received from ICLEI will remain the same and in addition you will receive analytics and scoring feedback from CDP.

To facilitate your transition to the new unified reporting system, we can transfer your cCR reporting data to the CDP platform, upon request. If you have data transfer needs, please contact [email protected] before the 17th of May 2019.

10. How can I check previous responses and update my climate information? 

If you previously reported to CDP,  you will be able to access your previous response through your personal dashboard within CDP’s system. Local and regional governments are asked to submit their climate information every year, but are able to use information reported the previous year as a basis. If your city submitted data through CDP’s platform in 2018, you may use the “copy forward” button on CDP’s platform to populate the relevant data from last year. 

If you have reported through the carbonn Climate Registry, but not through CDP in 2018, you may request that some of your old information is uploaded into the system before you start working on your 2019 response. You can contact ICLEI through [email protected] to make this request.

11. Who do I contact if I need help accessing or responding to the CDP platform? 

You can contact either [email protected] or your regional contact. You can also reach out to your ICLEI regional contact and the carbonn Center - [email protected] can direct your query to the appropriate person.

12. How is our historical reporting data handled? 

If a local or regional government has reported their data publicly through CDP or cCR already, it will be automatically shared with the other. No further reporting is needed following this collaboration. 
Your historical report will be used by ICLEI to show an overview of trends and allow ICLEI to offer specific guidance for scaling up climate action.

13. As a reporting subnational state or region, how does this collaboration affect me? 

This collaboration does not affect states and regions that have previously reported through CDP’s platform, including members of the Under2 Coalition, hosted by The Climate Group, or the RegionsAdapt initiative, hosted by nrg4SD. 

States and regions that have previously reported through the carbonn Climate Registry will now be invited to report through our new unified reporting system.

14. What is the timeline for reporting? 

Reporting in 2019 will open mi-April. In order to allow for data quality assessment, the reporting window will close 10 July. This allows local and regional governments 12 weeks to submit their response.