ICLEI USA has released Climate Pathways, a brand new, comprehensive program of tools, trainings, and technical support designed to help local governments and their sustainability teams measure, plan for, and reduce emissions and energy use. Climate Pathways builds on more than 15 years of proven tools and resources from ICLEI USA to track and reduce carbon pollution.

"Given the growing local threats posed by climate change to our communities - including floods, droughts, extreme storms, hurricanes, and wildfires - it is increasingly incumbent upon our cities and local governments to do their part to reduce the carbon pollution emissions that cause global warming," said ICLEI USA Executive Director Michael Schmitz.

"Working with our hundreds of local government members and the thousands of cities and counties across the country, we are very excited to provide ground-breaking measuring and planning tools that will help these local governments save money and energy in the face of climate change."

Announcing the New ClearPath Planning Software
Among the resources bundled in Climate Pathways is ClearPath, a new energy and emissions planning tool available free to ICLEI members. Replacing ICLEI's popular Clean Air and Climate Protection (CACP) software - the previous industry standard for tracking local carbon emissions - ICLEI USA's ClearPath is as an all-inclusive suite of cloud-based tools for local governments to conduct emissions inventories and forecasts, and to prepare climate action plans for their towns, counties, and cities.

Watch the video here.

"The new ClearPath tool builds upon the accuracy and thoroughness of CACP, while improving reliability and the user experience. Since the program is web-based, my team no longer worries about software compatibility and can share inventory information in real-time," said Bryce Dias, Program Manager at the great Valley Center.

Specifically, ClearPath will create baseline and subsequent inventories, track emissions progress over time, and forecast multiple scenarios for future emissions, with and without local emissions reduction actions. ICLEI USA experts will also be on hand to provide support and assistance to local governments participating in the Climate Pathways program and using the ClearPath software.

"ICLEI has been very responsive to our questions, providing live webinars, technical assistance and speaking one-on-one via phone to guide us through the inventory and forecasting process, drawing on their experience working with hundreds of other municipalities," said Ted Terrasas, Environmental Manager at the city of Monterey, CA.

Accessing ClearPath
While ClearPath will be offered free for ICLEI members via the ICLEI USA website, non-ICLEI members and third-parties will be able to purchase a use license for an annual fee. Additionally, a trial version, ClearPath Lite, will available to Signatories to the Resilient Communities for America campaign, and for a limited time to any local governments who wishes to test-run the tool for a 60-day period.

Through a partnership with the major investor-owned utilities in California called the Statewide Energy Efficiency Collaborative (SEEC), any local government in the state can use SEEC ClearPath California free of charge.