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.

Planning for likely high oil prices and reduced supply of oil is essential to avoid the worst consequences and ensure public services can be provided in a timely and economic manner. Maribyrnong Council's Peak Oil Policy and Action Plan describes how they will continue to deliver community programs and services in spite of global oil price increases.

Video (1 Nov 2007) presentation of John Kaufmann, former lead staffer for the groundbreaking Portland (Ore.) Peak Oil Task Force, to the Connecticut Legislative Peak Oil and Natural Gas Caucus. Kaufmann is a Senior Policy Analyst at the Oregon Department of Energy.

Clearly an across-the-board reduction in CO2 production will require a more carbon-efficient relationship between transportation and land use, and in the industry and infrastructure that support them. If 60 percent of new development were compact as opposed to conventional sprawl, the total aggregate reduction in national CO2 production over trend would be in the order of 10 percent. This change in the trend, in combination with stringent fuel economy standards, would be sufficient to lower aggregate GHG production attributable to cars and trucks to below 1990 levels. Perhaps of more importance, it would set in place an urban infrastructure far less dependent on the automobile and consequently more resilient to future disruptions in the energy supply.

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.

Post Carbon Institute Senior Fellow Richard Heinberg, on the psychological aspects of working to counteract the problems caused by peak oil and climate change. His "pep talk" reaches out to those working hard to make sure their families, their communities, and their planet are safe in a situation with many unknowns.

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.

Many cities have plans in place to reduce greenhouse gases, and a growing number are planning for declining global oil production. But the U.S. city of Spokane, Washington has become the first to tackle climate change and global oil depletion together, marking a new step in local government responses to these increasingly urgent challenges.

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.

If our civilization is in trouble, how can planning codes help? In this article from Planning, Chris Duerksen describes ways in which development codes can be potent tools for dealing with major issues: energy, environment, health and social justice.