The Climate Council Cities Power Partnership, Australia’s largest local government climate alliance, has welcomed a new director to lead the program as it enters a fresh stage of growth.

David Craven, formerly Australian representative for the C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group, joins the Cities Power Partnership at a time when the program is actively recruiting for new councils to join.

With Australia’s greenhouse gas pollution escalating and continued Federal roadblocks on climate change, David emphasised that local and community action on climate change is more important than ever.

“In the face of continued Federal inaction on climate change, we’re seeing a surge of local governments stepping up to find climate and clean energy solutions for their community,” he said.

The alliance is launching a number of new initiatives to support members, including an online forum for councils to share knowledge and ideas and a new partnership with emissions reporting platform Azility that enables councils to track their clean energy projects.

“I’m excited to be joining the Cities Power Partnership at a point where we are growing, and look forward to leading the team to support councils across the country to tackle climate change in their own backyards,” David said.

Prior to joining the Cities Power Partnership, David was the lead Australian representative of the C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group. While at C40 David worked closely with the City of Melbourne, while also directing the Climate Positive Development Program globally.

David has held leadership positions across the public, private and not-for-profit sectors, including roles with Sustainability Victoria and the Green Building Councils of Australia and New Zealand.