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City of <br />Elk az <br />— <br />River <br />Request for Action <br />To <br />Item Number <br />Mayor and City Council <br />6.2 <br />Agenda Section <br />Meeting Date <br />Prepared by <br />Presentations, Awards, <br />July 17, 2017 <br />Amanda Bednar, Environmental Coordinator <br />and Recognitions <br />Item Description <br />Reviewed by <br />Climate Smart Municipalities — Germany Tour 2017 <br />Cal Portner, City Administrator <br />Reviewed by <br />Action Requested <br />Presentation on the Climate Smart Municipalities Germany Tour 2017. <br />Background/Discussion <br />Cal Portner and Amanda Bednar toured the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany from June 17-25, <br />2017, as a part of the Climate Smart Municipalities (CSM) partnership. This was the second year of the <br />CSM three-year grant through the Germany Transatlantic Program, also known as the Marshall Plan. <br />Five Minnesota Cities (Elk River, Morris, Warren, Duluth, and Rochester) were selected to partner with <br />five North Rhine-Westphalia communities (Iserlohn, Saerbeck, Arnsberg, Siegen, and Munster) to <br />collaborate on climate and energy smart projects and programs. The goal of the partnership is to help <br />Minnesota cities achieve the state's "Next Generation Energy Act" goal of reducing greenhouse gas <br />emissions at least 30% below 2005 levels by 2025, while boosting the local economy. <br />The delegation of 27 members represented the five communities, the MN Environmental Quality Board, <br />the MN Department of Commerce, the Great Plains Institute, and University of Minnesota traveled to <br />Germany. The delegation met with German agencies including the Germany Foreign Office, the North <br />Rhine-Westphalia Ministry for Climate Protection, Environment, Agriculture, Nature Conservation and <br />Consumer Protection, International Relations at the EnergyAgency.NRW and numerous local officials. <br />The delegation traveled throughout the state, visiting local businesses, meeting community leaders and <br />expanding on much of the discussion from the 2016 delegation. This year we were fortunate enough to <br />spend more time with our partner city of Iserlohn. <br />Saerbeck (Morris) <br />■ Youth education and conference center focused on environmental topics <br />Drive through local Munsterlandische Parklanschaft — land use and restoration <br />Tour of local beef cattle farm <br />■ Saerbeck Bio -Energy Park <br />Arnsberg (Warren) <br />■ TRILUX "Simplify Your Light" light manufacturing company <br />■ Arnsberg Municipal Utilities and its Campus: Entrepreneurial, Scientific and Product <br />Specific Perspectives <br />NaA f RE] <br />