Following the warmest year in recorded history, the city announced Monday that Mayor Elizabeth Tisdahl had committed Evanston to the Compact of Mayors, a group dedicated to reducing greenhouse gas emissions and accelerating climate change initiatives.

Joining the compact, which includes 450 cities worldwide, is the latest in a series of actions Tisdahl has undertaken to curb carbon emissions and reduce the city’s environmental footprint. The compact provides tools to calculate greenhouse gas emissions more thoroughly and will allow Evanston to measure their impact on a global scale.

“The actions we take at a local level will have a global impact,” Tisdahl said in a news release. “By committing to the Compact of Mayors, we are continuing our work to make Evanston the most livable city, while helping create a better world for today’s urban citizens and generations to come.”

After achieving a significant reduction in greenhouse gases in 2013, Evanston officials said the city is on its way to reaching another milestone reduction this year. Both reductions were part of the city’s first two climate action plans. Greenhouse gases trap heat in the atmosphere, warming the planet and causing extreme weather, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. Local authorities have responded to the situation by funding renewable energy solutions and passing legislation to minimize waste.

As city officials begin to look into a third climate action plan, the Compact of Mayors aims to give Evanston a method for standardizing reporting procedures, making the community more resilient to climate change and reporting progress publicly. The compact, launched by U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg in 2014, seeks to establish “a common platform to capture the impact of cities’ collective actions,” according to its website.

“The Compact of Mayors reflects the commitment that cities are making to reduce carbon emissions and the crucial role they play in confronting climate change,” Bloomberg said in the release. “The more cities that take part in the Compact, the bigger impact it will have.”

Acting sustainability manager Kumar Jensen told The Daily the Compact meshes well with Evanston’s own timeline for climate action planning.

“Once we’ve done this reporting procedure, we will be able to start looking at the next generation of climate action planning, moving beyond a reduction scenario and thinking about how do you make Evanston a more resilient community through climate mitigation,” he said.

Future ideas for reducing the city’s global footprint might come from transportation and solid waste, with a continued emphasis on reducing emissions, Jensen said. But, exact details won’t come until after community brainstorming, he added.

Jonathan Nieuwsma, vice president of Citizens’ Greener Evanston, a nonprofit dedicated to sustainability, said he applauds the new agreement but sees a long road ahead for significant progress.

“Local communities like Evanston are in many ways ahead of the national government, and certainly the state government, in terms of their commitment to climate change and carbon reduction,” he said.

Jensen said he thought Tisdahl joined the Compact because she has demonstrated passion for environmental issues throughout her tenure as mayor.

“It really is taking the two plans that we’ve had and building on those to expand upon Evanston’s goal of becoming the most livable city,” he said.

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