Action – Convene a task force
While you can try, we don't advise you trying to do this all on your own, especially if you're a smaller municipality with limited resources. Stakeholder engagement is also a very important of this process and successful climate action will require participation from leaders in government, and the civic, business, and non-profit communities.

A diverse climate action task force can provide valuable insight and leadership in evaluating which potential emission reduction actions and policies are most appropriate for your community. Involving these folks will strengthen your plan and help them to better understand the challenges climate change presents for your community.

Action – Engage the community
Educating and involving the citizens in your community is also crucial for successful climate protection. It's important that you're transparent about the process and make it open and accessible to the public. 

Different community players will participate in different ways, so you should try to provide a variety of opportunities and ways for them to provide feedback and make their voices heard.

• Hold frequent community meetings that invite ideas and feedback
• Develop a section on the community website to make the planning process more transparent and further solicit feedback and invite ideas
• Issue press releases throughout the process to relay good news, highlight successes and keep climate action on the radar of the community

Action – Identify actions that maximize GHG reductions
The sections below (transportation, energy, buildings, etc.) identify a variety of activities, policies and programs that can be employed to mitigate further greenhouse gas emissions from your city's operations and your community. For more best practices and case studies from around the nation and world see GCBL's list here. We encourage you to look through these and see what other cities have accomplished. 

Not all of the activities and policies we suggest in the following sections will be relevant for your community, so its important that your task force considers the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and challenges unique to your community when deciding which actions to include in your action plan. 

The task force should also consider the emissions reduction potential, cost-effectiveness, feasibility, and co-benefits of each action when deciding which are right for your community. If you decide to join ICLEI, their Clean Air Climate Protection software is helpful in quantifying the potential emissions reductions associated with different projects, programs and policies.

Common co-benefits of a climate action include:

• reducing energy costs and saving taxpayer money
• economic development and job creation
• improved air quality and public health
• improved water quality
• a more appealing and resilient community

Potential climate actions for your community and city operations are divided into the categories below. This is by no means a comprehensive list, but simply common activities. For examples of other cities' action plans click here.