Member Survey: 2025 Climate & Sustainability Landscape

Are you an ICLEI USA Member?

Yes

No, but I want to learn more about membership

Thank you for your interest! This survey is available exclusively to ICLEI USA members.

If you'd like to learn more about membership, you can fill out the questions that follow, contact us at iclei-usa@iclei.org, or visit icleiusa.org.

Thank you for your interest! This survey is available exclusively to ICLEI USA members. Learn more about ICLEI- Local Governments for Sustainability USA at icleiusa.org. Thank you!

Name

First Name

Last Name

example@example.com

In what region are you located?

Have you lost federal funding for climate or sustainability work in 2025?

Yes

Unsure

Please estimate the dollar amount of funding lost:

In what topic areas do you have the most significant and/or urgent need for support to help maintain and accelerate your climate, sustainability and resilience work over the next 12 months?(multiple choice — select all that are of significant interest to you)

Capacity - Increasing staffing

Capacity - Capacity building for existing staff

Capacity - Grant Writing / assistance finding funding opportunities

Circular Economy - 101 on circular procurement practices

Circular Economy - Guidance on developing and implementing innovative procurement policies

Circular Economy - Reducing waste / reusing waste streams

Circular Economy - Scope 3 and consumption-based emissions accounting

Communication - Messaging / language / communications guidance for the current political context

Communication - Framing local climate action around key benefits with strongest support in public opinion data

Communication - Storytelling guidance and support to help you spread the word about your local sustainability, mitigation and resilience work

Communication - ICLEI collecting and sharing stories about the sustainability, mitigation and resilience work of many local governments

Engagement - 101 on community engagement tools and best practices

Engagement - Building collaborative partnerships with educational institutions, community-based organizations, and other non-governmental partners

Engagement - Launching and managing public-private partnerships

Engagement - Building trusting partnerships with equity organizations and disadvantaged populations

Equity - Community Benefit Agreements

Equity - Creating local Just Transition Funds / Equitable Transition Funds

Equity - Integrating equity into climate planning and implementation

Equity - Partnering with Community Land Trusts on resilient affordable housing

Equity - Best Practices for advancing sustainable and resilient affordable housing

Equity - Preparing for and managing climate-displaced residents (climate mobility)

Equity - Incorporating Traditional & Indigenous Knowledge into policies/plans/program OR Tribal Engagements

Funding / Financing - Recovering from recent funding cuts

Funding / Financing - Defending against future funding cuts

Funding / Financing - Raising more funding

Funding / Financing - calculating the costs of doing nothing

Funding / Financing - Municipal Climate Risk Disclosure

Funding / Financing - Local budgeting for climate implementation

Funding / Financing - Creating new local revenue streams for climate implementation

Funding / Financing - Options for non-federal funding and financing for climate implementation

Funding / Financing - Insurance solutions for local governments

Nature - Tools and best practices for inventorying and mapping natural assets

Nature - Framework for guiding biodiversity action

Nature - Integrating biodiversity in local planning

Nature - Biodiversity target-setting

Nature - Nature-based Solutions (NbS) for sequestering carbon

Nature - NbS for strengthening resilience (e.g., tree planting to reduce urban heat islands, green stormwater management approaches, natural approaches to protect against coastal flooding and sea-level rise)

Nature - NbS for creating equitable access to benefits from natural assets and biodiversity

Nature - Improving interdepartmental collaboration and building external partnerships to advance NbS

Nature - Policy and/or funding options for restoring and protecting natural assets

Nature - Tracking and reporting NbS

Peer Learning - Learning from other communities in the US

Peer Learning - Learning from other communities outside the US

Policy - Latest news on federal and state policy affecting local sustainability, mitigation and resilience initiatives

Policy - Model local policies and regulations advancing local sustainability, mitigation and resilience initiatives

Resilience - 101 on resilience and adaptation best practices, policies and programs

Resilience - Climate adaptation and resilience planning

Resilience - Disaster preparedness and recovery

Resilience - Making the financial case for resilience investments

Resilience - Identifying adaptation/resilience strategies

Resilience - Resilience Hubs

Zero Emissions - Tracking / accounting for carbon emissions

Zero Emissions - Analyzing / designing mitigation strategies

Zero Emissions - Building decarbonization

Zero Emissions - Clean Energy generation and storage

Zero Emissions - Electric vehicle transition

Zero Emissions - Reducing vehicle miles traveled (including transit, active transportation, and land use)

Zero Emissions - Methane emissions reduction

Zero Emissions - Modeling costs, co-benefits, and ROI of mitigation strategies

Other

What delivery mechanisms and types of support from ICLEI USA would be most useful to help maintain and accelerate your climate, sustainability and resilience work over the next 12 months?

Advice & Information Sharing - Cohort programs (with 10-20 peer local governments, convening online periodically over 3-12 months)

Advice & Information Sharing - one-time workshops and webinars

Advice and Information Sharing - Commentary on breaking news to understand and navigate federal changes

Advice & Information Sharing - One-on-one technical support from ICLEI staff

Advice & Information Sharing - Grant application review and comments

Education - Elected Official programming to engage your mayor, council, and/or commission

Fee-for-Service projects - Carrying out specific technical assistance projects for your community

Fee-for-Service projects - Assisting your community with engaging fee-for-service contractors (i.e., writing RFPs, identifying and selecting providers)

Member connections - live membership meetings quarterly

Member connections - Monthly “safe space” meetings online to discuss challenges and how to navigate them with your peers

Member connections - Local Diplomacy opportunities for your community to connect to international peer communities

Member connections - In-person events, such as member meetups (domestic) or conferences such as climate/nature COPs (international)

Tools - Written information / online resources / guidebooks / toolkits

Tools - Model policies and regulations for local governments

Tools - Database of local climate action plans and sustainability plans

Tools - Database of ICLEI member contacts in local governments across the country who are willing to share their expertise and advice in specific areas.

Other

We would like to learn about and amplify alternative ways ICLEI USA members are thinking about funding / financing work that has been affected by canceled federal grants. Do you have an approach or solution that you would like to share or explore?

Is there anything else you need right now / or any suggestions for ICLEI USA to help advance your climate, sustainability and resilience work?