Local governments play a key role in promoting sustainable energy at a community level. They have a political mandate to govern and guide their communities, provide services and manage municipal assets. They have legislative and purchasing powers that they can use to implement change in their own operations and in the wider community. Local governments can further play a role as a model in their region or country, demonstrating how policies and local actions can be shaped to guide communities in the transition to a sustainable energy future.

Decentralized Energy

The local level is where the implementation of renewable energy policy and technologies often occurs. Because renewables are a distributed resource, they are installed in a decentralized way. Since they are so dispersed, renewable energy technologies meet new challenges in the energy sector where much planning and policy-making has evolved in a centralized way. As a dispersed resource, the role of local governments takes on a prominent role. 

The Role of Cities

Cities have several key areas where they can facilitate renewable energy development and encourage sustainable energy production, delivery, and use. These areas consist of urban planning and building design, and programs, procurement, financing, utility regulation and grid integration, etc. Also city action can be sourced from their responsibilities to address economic development and job creation, clean environment and livable city: air and water quality, public health, urban planning and land use. Cities can and should drive the innovation of renewable energy technologies.  

Read about common barriers to utilizing renewable energy