On Thursday, May 29, 2008, the Brookings Institution released, Shrinking the Carbon Footprint of Metropolitan America, a report ranking the carbon footprint of the top 100 metropolitan regions. The report and related materials are currently available at http://www.brookings.edu/metro/CarbonFootprint.aspx.
 
To help local governments already engaged in climate protection efforts decipher the report’s data and talk to your local media outlets and community about it, we’ve provided Talking Points and a Template Press Release. The Talking Points answer critical questions about the differences between the Brookings data and the greenhouse gas emissions inventories you have conducted/are conducting with ICLEI. It will be important for many of you to reference your own, more comprehensive emissions analyses.
 
The report, along with all of the work you’ve done with ICLEI over the years, underscores the important role local governments can and must play in our country’s response to climate change. Emissions sources and solutions are both at the local level!
 
Download the Talking Points and Template Press Release.