Our Activities

ICLEI USA provided technical advisory services at the request of the Climate Smart citizen task force of Philipstown New York. ICLEI contributed to the development of a baseline estimate for "net" GHG emissions after removals. The object of the analysis was to inform the development of a Climate Action Plan to outline the policies and actions local government, community partners, and individuals could take to measurably reduce emissions and adapt to unavoidable climate change. The task force recommended that the Town adopt the analysis given that it best localizes the global emissions resulting from the community’s actions and unites efforts to promote community health, a growing local economy, environmental stewardship and other sustainability initiatives under the common banner of a collective plan to address climate change. The town set a goal of carbon neutrality by 2040 and explored opportunities to do that with and without the purchase of carbon offsets.

ICLEI annually provided the following services:
Support local sustainability efforts in 10 cities and towns in Rhineland-Palatinate;
Organize 3 training workshops with varying topics for municipal staff and local civil society groups;
Share relevant knowledge and best practice through a newsletter and website;
Advise the Ministry of Economics on strategic matters of local sustainability transition

ICLEI USA partnered with Azavea, a beneficial corporation and software developer in Philadelphia and Dr. Missy Stultz, a former ICLEI USA staff member to create TEMPERATE to help local governments with limited resources to develop climate change adaptation plans and align those plans with the reporting requirements of the Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate and Energy. The Temperate dashboard displays city-specific potential future climate hazards, based on the geographic regions and findings included in the 2014 National Climate Assessment. Each Top Hazard is backed by one of the Climate indicators available in the Azavea Climate API, informed by Dr. Stultz's research. ICLEI USA provides 2-6 hours of Temperate support to its members. ICLEI USA contracts with cities that wish to outsource the Vulnerability Assessment development, as was the case with the Town and Village of New Paltz New York. Over a two-year period, ICLEI USA staff worked with the Town and stakeholders to develop an action plan to address local climate vulnerabilities.

Within the project, ICLEI Europe was rersponsible for:
– a preliminary meta study on the multitude of campaigns and networks of the urban, peri-urban and rural endeavours for sustainability and climate change on the European level;
– managing and co-ordinating large cross-case studies in the European regions
– analysing the field research data and merging it with data on European regions

ICLEI led a consortium of partners, which developed the Berliner Nachhaltigkeitsprofil on behalf of the city. The main tasks in the project were:
Coordination of the activities of the project consortium;
Advise the city administration on strategic questions regarding local sustainability strategies;
Analyze key strategic documents of urban development in the city in order to identify cross-cutting approaches;
Conduct interviews with selected experts and individuals regarding sustainability in Berlin;
Identify three unique pathways to sustainability in Berlin. Those so called profile areas are the Enabling Berlin, the Productive Berlin, the Accessible Berlin;
Identify lighthouse projects to illustrate and showcase the previously identified profile areas;
Organize feedback loops for the development of the Berliner Nachhaltigkeitsprofil. Those are 1) a scientific advisory council, 2) a online consultation process, 3) a workshop with key stakeholders;
Create a publication package including a detailed final report, a short summary (German/ English) and a power point presentation (German/ English).

With the main topic 'Urban Sustainability' the ETC-ULS Action plan 2020 forsees the following tasks for ICLEI:
Support for the finalisation and publication of a study
Supporting integrated urban sustainability management:
– Finalisation of the publication of Urban SDG indicatiors
– Distilling good practice examples that illustrate innovative governance approaches of cities and urban areas to implement the SDGs.
Stakeholder meeting.

ICLEI was responsible for the integration of five “reference cities” invited to take part in the Berliner Mobilitätskonferenz (Berlin Mobility Conference): Beijing, London, Los Angeles, Moscow and Paris.
ICLEI identified suitable projects/initiatives from each of the five cities that could fit well into the envisaged conference programme. Further ICLEI led the communication with these cities in the run-up to the event to confirm their participation, brief them, and ensure a high-quality, relevant presentation is delivered at the conference.

ICLEI is compiling a guidance document for "Buying Social". It provides guidance for procurers on how to include socially responsible considerations in their tenders. The European Commission will publish the final guidance document. To develop the guidance ICLEI is also compiling a range of good practice examples to illustrate the guidance provided.

In order for national and local governments to better appreciate the need for safe walking and cycling facilities, Africa’s urban citizens need to challenge the widely held assumption that they all wish to drive cars by showing their support for walking and cycling. Various local initiatives around the continent (such as car-free days, place making, Open Streets, Critical Mass etc.) are inspiring citizens to reimagine and reinvent their streets to be accessible for all. African Mobility Month aims to celebrate these and other activities to raise the priority of walking and cycling in the continent’s development agenda.

The ICLEI EcoLogistics Community is the first city network globally committed to a sustainable urban freight future. The Community leads sustainable urban freight development in participating cities and drive global actions in the international stage through collaborative exchange and action plans and stakeholder engagements. Cities benefit from being part of the Community through the shared knowledge and resources made available to the network, as well as opportunities to disseminate their successes.