Presentations and reports presented at the 2007 Challenge of Global Warming and Peak Oil for Local Government conference, sponsored by the Municipal Association of Victoria (Australia), illuminate many aspects of the issue for local governments.

This report, prepared for the Portland Peak Oil Task Force in 2006, is a good introduction to the issue report, and also takes into consideration many aspects of the city's vitality and resiliency. The categories of potential areas of impact were influential in shaping the task force's inquiries and eventual recommendations.

The Brisbane (Australia) City Council's Climate Change and Energy Taskforce report, released on 12 March 2007, included 31 recommendations across eight strategy areas having to do with how this large, coastal, sub-tropical city can face the challenges of climate change and peak oil.

This study by Warren Karlenzig, author of How Green Is Your City?: The SustainLane City Rankings, ranks the largest 50 US cities by their readiness for $4+ a gallon gas and $100+ barrel oil prices. It considers a variety of factors, including city resident public transit use, city carpooling rates, metro public transit ridership, metro area sprawl, telecommuting, biking and walking-to-work rates, and use of heating oil.

A report by Edward J. Blakely for the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy, Urban Planning for Climate Change provides advice on planning for cities' uncertain futures as they are shaped by global climate change. His first-hand experience as the Executive Director of Recovery Management provides illuminating examples of the kinds of issues that today's cities face.

The report prepared by the Oakland, Calif. Peak Oil Task Force, to be presented to the Oakland City Council Public Works Committee on 26 Feb 2008. The report is, as titled, an action plan that advises a course of action to transform the City of Oakland into a much less oil-dependent city.

"An ever-expanding footprint of our urban areas is not sustainable," says John Gormley, Ireland's Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government. That department has just released a new set of planning guidelines for sustainable residential development in urban areas.

Better known as the Hirsch Report, this report was developed for the United States Department of Energy in 2005. It examined the likelihood of Peak Oil, its potential effects, and recommended a set of mitigating actions, stressing that while the problem is unlike other energy crises, it is not insoluble, given timely preparation. The recommended time frame to start preparation was 20 years before peak; a 10 year rush transition with moderate impacts is possible with extraordinary efforts from governments, industry, and consumers.

A paper released by the California Chapter of the American Planning Association that recommends basic and important policy principles to guide planning-related actions needed to effectively respond to greenhouse gas emission and climate change challenges. The principles are organized by level of government: State, regional, and local.

The Southern California Association of Governments has released their Draft Regional Comprehensive Plan (RCP) for public review and comment. The Draft RCP includes a chapter on energy uncertainty and peak oil, which sets forth an ambitious performance outcome to decrease the region's consumption of fossil fuels 25 percent from 1990 levels by 2020.The RCP also includes guidance for local governments to address peak oil and become more sustainable. A series of public workshops will be announced soon and approval will be requested in June 2008.