Based in Oakland, California at the ICLEI USA Headquarters, staff support the second highest concentration of ICLEI members in the US from California as well as Nevada and Hawaii. ICLEI’s West Coast work has been centered in California, where membership nearly tripled in 2007, growing from 38 to 115 local government members by mid-2008. To spur and support this unprecedented growth, ICLEI’s California Team has pioneered new models of regional collaboration efforts among local governments in California.   Key examples of these California Initiatives and Networks include:

• Regional greenhouse gas inventory workshops with the Bay Area Air Quality Management District,
• Regional effort to conduct the GHG inventories of 28 local governments in the Silicon Valley,
• County-wide efforts to build capacity and drive collaboration among ICLEI members in Alameda, Contra Costa and Marin counties.

  
The California regional office is dedicated to serving our members throughout the state.  Thank you to Sacramento, California, Mayor Heather Fargo for representing the region on the ICLEI USA Board of Directors.

Members in Action: Santa Rosa, California

Congratulations to the City of Santa Rosa, California, winner of the 2008 Climate Innovation Invitational!  The city was honored for their cutting-edge Aquatic Biomass to Fuel project.  The project, your top pick from among 29 entries, treats wastewater while capturing methane and producing biofuels for Santa Rosa's municipal fleet, thus simultaneously addressing issues of water pollution, energy demand, and air pollution.  The award was presented to the City at the ICLEI Local Action Summit, on May 15, 2008, in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

New members