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 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.

A select group of approximately 15 Australian local governments is being invited to join a Pioneer Group. This group will register on the CWN global website and will then participate in a needs assessment conducted jointly by ICLEI Oceania and Swinburne University. The results will be used to develop a tailored package of resources and activities, targetting the highest needs of Australian local governments. The Pioneer initiative will take approximately 12 months and include several webinars and a national forum at the end of the year to report on the outcomes of COP15. This last step may of course be delayed due to the COVID.

>> See also project description.
ICLEI organizes five strategic workshops for the network members on four thematic vision clusters (future proof, 100% renewable, zero waste, human scale) and on the organization of an EGCA laureate year.
Develops a set of well-structured toolkits, combining print and online resources that inspire cities to embark on or further advance local sustainability transitions.
ICLEI also assesses a potential enlargement of membership of the Network of the European Green Capitals as well as provides recommendations for the inclusion of and/ or increased collaboration with other networks.
ICLEI further promotes the European Green Capital Network and highlights the benefits of sharing the inspiration through the dissemination of the latest information on the project developments and the toolkits to at least 150 other ‘target cities’.

ICLEI KO is connecting this national & local event with global issues and trends. KO helps the co-organizer and hosting city see and know what front-running country and cities are doing at similar events and efforts. SDGs Studio that was introduced in the Global SDGs Festival took place in Bonn in May 2019 was replicated at KFSD. KO’s role is bringing new ideas and innovation from global society to this festival that has been long-lasting since 1999.

The event was organized by ICLEI SAMS in partnership with Secretariat for Infrastructure and Environment of , Regions4, Post 2020 Biodiversity Framework – EU Support initiative, the support of CETESB, Fundação Florestal, Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), Konrad Adenauer Foundation (KAS), Atlantic Forest Biosphere Reserve (RBMA), the envolvement of ICLEI Africa and Cities Biodiversity Centre representation. The event aimed to formulate contributions from several Brazilian actors regarding key points for the new Post-2020 global framework of the Biological Diversity Convention (CBD), which will be defined in the next COP15 of CBD. To this end, the “Letter of São Paulo” was prepared as a result of the event, as a document that compiled the local, subnational contributions, from the biosphere reserves, civil society entities, from the private sector, among others. With this, the intention is to reach a global agreement for nature and for people to be recognized by the 196 signatory countries to the Convention. The event featured moments of group work in sessions with some thematic axes and also expository moments of practices on these themes.

ICLEI analyzes participating cities’ policies and existing initiatives, maps and engages with stakeholders in the food system, and identifies opportunities and barriers. As the project outcome, ICLEI will publish a report to demonstrate the initiatives taken by cities in East Asia, to develop narratives of the circular food system, as well as providing policy guidance and suggestions.

ICLEI will carry out desk-based research, interviews, discussion workshops, and generate case studies in investigating the activities that have been taken by cities, and further explore the potential for improving circularity. East Asia local governments participating in the project, will be provided with systems thinking to review the initiatives taken in their food systems and further optimize them. They will also be engaged in discussions with stakeholders across the value chain to better understand the barriers and potentials of implementing circular economy approach and strategies in the food system.

ICLEI will work on the Communication, outreach and inter-project collaboration and engagement area, which includes: Support to project communication (incl. communication strategy, 4 fact sheets, 4 policy briefs, 4 webinars, other specific events and presentations); Organisation and moderation of 4 city workshops and Organisation and moderation of 2 stakeholder workshops and one conference (incl. development of programme). These activities will help to ground the policy discussion, enable learning and develop targeted and operational recommendations for policy makers, practitioners, potential investors, and other relevant actors within and outside of the study regions to improve the design and implementation of GBI and highlight opportunities in creating markets for innovative solutions.

ICLEI Innovation will select teams, startups, products, services and innovative processes in the segment of afforestation or urban green areas, which strengthen the management and sustainability of cities, promote green spaces, adopt solutions based on nature and generate measurable management results municipal public health. Through a public announcement inviting organizations for proposal submissiton, ICLEI will select 10 best proposals and start a mentoring process with the selected ones through the online traction e-learning platform and the growth path methodology. This project is expected to collect innovative and sustainable solutions to the challenges brought by local and regional governments.

The objective of the Forum is to create a regional platform of municipal governments, specifically through its Planning or Development Secretaries, to promote the exchange of knowledge, practices and models of sustainable development between Amazonian subnational governments and the subsequent dissemination of experiences at regional level. The network acts as a cooperation mechanism to position Amazonian cities as global references for sustainable urban development in a context of tropical forests, in which managers collaborate mutually in the implementation of monitoring measures and efforts to reach the SDGs. ICLEI is responsible for (i) the identification of potential cities for involvement with the network in the first year, (ii) the definition and implementation of connection and exchange mechanisms for the group, for permanent dialogue and mobilization with members, and for (iii) regional meetings to build an agenda for cooperation between local governments, the active exchange of experiences and the position of cities as drivers of sustainable urban development.

ICLEI KO is working as the secretariat of the alliance coordinating the overall plan of the activities of the alliance and the implementation on the ground. Aside from administrative role, KO provides professional consultation and guidance on how local leaders show their wills on sustainable development and how the local government officials can apply the concept and philosophy of sustainable development into their administrative works and policies.

ICLEI is providing a platform for inspiration, action and the commitment to take sustainability to the next level.

In nearly three decades of work, ICLEI has developed, tested and scaled up methodologies to guide the way towards sustainable urban development at the local level. This rich experience accumulated allows us to apply a common framework for our global projects and initiatives, which currently follows the stages: analysis, action and acceleration, and in each one follows a step-by-step guideline. This track can be applied to a variety of themes – from low emission to nature-based development – and promotes a cyclical path that allows the continuous improvement of the governments in our Network. This year’s “Cities + Sustainable – ICLEI South America Solutions Portfolio” highlights the following opportunities and initiatives ICLEI provides cities and regions in South America.

The Monitor Nachhaltige Kommune project aims to support the development of "effect-oriented" sustainability management in German communities. The project, lead by the Bertelsmann Foundation, is divided into several project modules. ICLEI´s part in this project builds the foundation of indicator based monitoring. It provides the knowledge and training for local governments to change their governance instruments with the aim of becoming more sustainable.
Within this framework ICLEI developed a governance self assessment tool for local governments, developed hand books for urban sustainability governance
and was further responsible for the coaching of local governments in implementing new governance approaches.
ICLEI also takes part in the strategic advisory council of the overall project.

ICLEI is responsible for the sharing, dissemination and valorisation of knowledge and experiences produced within the project. By this ICLEI ensures that the knowledge, experiences and results produced are not only well documented and widely shared but also relevant for local communities and policy-makers in Europe. ICLEI synthesizes results and produces key project deliverables combining established dissemination tools with more innovative, participatory activities. In detail ICLEI:
– disseminates and valorises the knowledge and experiences produced within the project
– synthesises and communicates project results in formats that underline their relevance for local communities and policy-makers in Europe
– advances self-reflective learning and stimulates public debates on social innovation through transition initiatives
– informs future implementation frameworks for sustainability and low-carbon policies on the local, national and EU level

The Connecting Nature front-runner cities will draw on their experiences and work with fast-follower cities in a capacity-building role. The project will expand upon existing urban sustainability and innovation initiatives, create a reference framework of clear and useful indicators for the implementation and evaluation of nature-based solutions, build expertise and competency in all cities for innovative urban planning, policy and solution implementation, generate economic opportunities for a diversity of urban actors in Europe, and nurture urban community support, idea creation, active stakeholder participation and idea implementation at local levels and expansion and replication at a global level, through the global reach of ICLEI. The ICLEI European Secretariat will, through its regional offices in East Asia, South Korea and Brazil, in collaboration with local partners in these regions, work on drawing down matching regional funding and establish local Connecting Nature linked initiatives that will adapt and embed mechanisms for the co-production of solutions in those locations and cities.

The Covenant of Mayors in Sub-Saharan Africa supports Sub-Saharan African cities to tackle the interconnected challenges of climate change and access to sustainable energy. Started in 2015, CoM SSA is the African regional chapter of the Global Covenant of Mayors (GCoM), the largest network of cities driving urban climate action.
CoM SSA provides broad-scale technical support to signatory cities through a Technical Helpdesk housed at ICLEI Africa, in Cape Town. At least 25 of these cities are provided with tailored technical support to develop and implement Sustainable Energy and Climate Action Plans (SEACAPs).
As the initiative matures, the focus moves from planning to implementation and more specifically on unlocking climate finance at the local level. Implementing partners facilitate dialogue with private sector and finance institutions, link signatory cities with relevant initiatives for funding, facilitate inter-government dialogue on climate finance and co-ordinate action between international commitments, Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Establishing transdisciplinary foundations
– Facilitate, organize and conduct Urban-Regional Innovation Partnerships (URIPs) dialogues
Developing a novel nature based solutions assessment framework
– Engage stakeholders in Utrecht and Malmö in a multi-criteria method to determine stakeholder values.
– Extend the learning process to the other URIPs in a two-day workshop.
– Identify how current insights and existing methods and models can be combined, improved and further developed.
Enabling conditions for systemic integration
– Participate in the methodological workshop and co-design of the research protocol.
– Undertake the work on systemic integration at the EU level.
Realising the potential of NBS
– Launch the Nature4Cities platform
– Disseminate Nature4Cities through ICLEI member cities
– Support community events
– Draw on contacts with municipal government
– Undertake a scenario back-casting exercise with the URIPs and 15 ICLEI member cities
– Hold a 1.5 day workshop with the URIP members and participants at the ICLEI Resilient Cities congress
Creating trandisciplinary capcity & delivering NATURVATION
– Generate conference/journal papers

ICLEI coordinates the work on a comprehensive Outreach, Communication and Training Strategy for the ROBUST project. The strategy comprises training material for decision-makers in policy and the public sector. The specific objectives are:
To facilitate an effective communication and exchange with ROBUST’s principle target groups: 1) regional rural and urban policymakers, interest groups, and practitioners; 2) European and national policymakers, interest groups, and the general public; and 3) the research and scientific community.
To strengthen the communication and dissemination components of all WPs through common principles and a professional planning and implementation of all related activities.
To support all outreach, communication and dissemination through an interactive project website with Live Case Studies and a publication library.
To ensure a high quality of all project results and support related communications, as well as produce training modules for widespread dissemination and exploitation of ROBUST’s findings.

ICLEI Europe is lead of the project and thus coordinates it. ICLEI Europe is also responsible for the distilling solutions. This includes following aspects:
To distill a final palette of innovative specific recommendations for sustainable and inclusive urban areas from the outputs of WPs 3-5, including policy decisions, urban planning tools, financing mechanisms, and procedural practices with a variety of city-makers, including historically marginalized groups and stakeholders in the city.
To distill policy- and practice-relevant recommendations for target audiences at multiple governance levels and targeting specific policy frameworks (e.g. EU Urban Agenda, SDGs, etc.)
To disseminate innovative solutions and recommendations in multiple formats to UrbanA’s target audiences and beyond using strategic partners’ communication channels

New guidance enables U.S. cities and counties to include forests and trees within their greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions accounting, a key activity to ensure representation of local forestry and land use consideration in climate action planning. Developed in partnership with the Woods Hole Research Center and World Resources Institute (WRI), and funded by Climate and Land Use Alliance (CLUA) and Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, the Forest and Land Use Appendix to ICLEI’s U.S. Community Protocol for Accounting and Reporting of Greenhouse Gas Emissions will help fill a critical gap in enabling communities to develop climate action related to land management at a local level.

ICLEI created a facilitated multi-month training and capacity building program; the “Cohort” to build local government capacity in climate, resilience, forestry, and equity. Each cohort is theme-based and includes up to 20 participant local governments, some of whom are supported by university student externs. Cohort participants are supported by ICLEI USA technical advisors, the ICLEI USA online learning platform, recorded training content, and one-on-one support as needed. Topics have included the GHG net-zero building strategies, GHG inventories as a first step toward identifying a reduction target and priority strategies to reduce emissions; integrated climate action and resilience plans, and equitable community engagement. Cohort partners have included the Global Covenant of Mayors, Indiana University Environmental Resilience Institute, Mountain Towns 2030, California Statewide Energy Efficiency Collaborative, the University of Northern Iowa, and the State of Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection.

In 2011 ICLEI Africa launched the inaugral Local Climate Solutions for Africa. It brings together key national, subnational, local government and private sector leaders from across Africa to discuss and explore collective solutions for addressing climate related challenges that threaten to derail sustainable development in Africa.

The 2020 theme “Financing for Change” will respond to the growing acknowledgement worldwide that to tackle climate change, city-scale finance must be mobilised. Local finance will give subnational actors access to the resources they need to harness the emission reduction potential in cities, and to respond effectively to climate change at the local level. Improved multi-level governance and increased finance flow to the local level will speed up implementation of current national and international climate change commitments.

•Conduct Sustainability Assessment of Existing Programs
•Develop Sustainability Baseline Assessment and Gaps
•Set Sustainability Goals
•Develop the Sustainability Plan
•Implement the Plan and Monitor Program
•Develop Sustainability Work Program Document
•Engage the Public, City Council, and Other Stakeholders

The module focused on practices, policies and innovations on sustainable water management at municipal level, particularly on city solutions to address rainfall extremes and water stress. ICLEI KCC delivered modules planning, coordinated with city speakers and promoted ICLEI Resilient Cities agenda.

The objective of the project is to analyze the development of urban biodiversity and ecosystem services concepts and practices in urban areas and better integrate them into the science and policy discussions that are taking place in the context of the preparation of CoP15. ICLEI´s focus on key Chinese actors since China is the host country of the CBD CoP 15, as well as on German, European, and other international actors who play a major role in the implementation of measures that promote urban biodiversity and ecosystem services at the local and sub-national level. The specific goal of the project is to provide an overview of the current scientific discourse and environmental policy processes and to raise awareness of the identified key actors through a series of consultation workshops taking place in Europe and in China.

ICLEI is convening a circular economy workshop to bring stakeholders and experts from African cities together. Through a combination of short presentations and interactive sessions, the workshop will (1) build shared understanding of the concepts of circular development, resource nexus and urban metabolism, as well as their application in urban African contexts; (2) familiarise participants with useful tools and portals for analysing city resource performance; (3) show evidence of these principles in action in Accra; (4) identify city needs related to urban resource management, and (5) collectively chart a way forward for building communities of practice around sustainable urban resource management in African cities.

ICLEI works in collaboration with FAO, ICLEI, RUAF and C40 to collectively promote and support subnational take-up and engagement regarding food policy and action in African cities, in line with global targets and ambitions articulated in SDG 2 and through initiatives such as the Milan Food Pact. This collaboration is also intended to build on the existing ICLEI-RUAF CITYFOOD Network and related initiatives of all the partners in Africa.

Local and regional governments can have a tremendous impact on city-region food systems, yet many decision makers are unaware of the leverage subnational governents have over their food systems. ICLEI highlights the role local and regional governments can play in improving sustainable and resilient food systems to raise awareness among key stakeholders and partners. ICLEI develops knowledge materials to advance understanding of, and to advocate for, sustainable food systems while promoting local government’s actions on this field.

ICLEI initiated this partnership to attract the attention of ambitious local governments in South Korea and give them a platform to share their efforts and accomplishments on the targets of Goal 11.

ICLEI is gathering the efforts of Local Governments in South Korea on implementing SDGs and delivering related projects to leverage the effectiveness of the dispersed efforts and actions by combining and reporting them on the UN SDGs Knowledge Platform. By focusing this initiative on Goal 11, ICLEI provides the map of the implementation of Goal 11 in South Korea, and highlights leading local governments to inspire others to join.

ICLEI and the SCBD collaborated in preliminary consultations with Parties and selected subnational and local authorities on the need for implementation of NBSAPs by subnational governments. ICLEIwas tasked with guidelines for an integrated approach in the development and implementation of national, subnational and local biodiversity strategies and action plan and undertake capacity development.

The Guidelines provide detailed and comprehensive guidance on thirteen general areas for action to promote integration, coordination and cooperation, applicable to national, subnational and local levels of government. To develop the guidelines, ICLEI consulted with selected national and subnational governments; developed comparative analysis of their biodiversity strategies and action plans; presentated of the draft guidelines at CBD COP 13; and led capacity building workshops in Africa and India.

ICLEI Oceania has posted a ‘science communications toolkit’ on the website, a collation of useful resources for sustainability students. Through the Young Writers Network students and graduates are empowered to become engaging communicators. Sharing evidence-based knowledge in credible and persuasive ways is paramount to the health of a mindful and engaged society, and is a prerequisite for sustainable development policies at all levels of government, especially local and regional governments, who interface most closely with communities. Through capacity building, and offering online resources and social networking events in partnership with other sustainability organisations in Melbourne, Australia, ICLEI is assisting academic researchers in translating their sustainability research into practice. ICLEI is assisting researchers and students in translating their sustainability research into practice.

Information available to urban planners – such as applicable legal frameworks and relevant policies – are useful to citizens, providing them with a better insight into the planning process and local government decision making. ICLEI is exploring how to use social media and other ICT solutions for better public participation and urban co-creation, and develop new applications together with 3 major European cities. ICLEI will give citizens access to data about their city in an easy to understand way, enabling them to better support the decision-making process.

Innovative research has been undertaken by ICLEI in Blantyre, Gaborone and Harare to enhance understanding of the influence of people’s perceptions and values during their interpretation of climate risk narratives.

Drawing on various research projects, ICLEI aims to make research work for local sustainability at the European level. ICLEI works to bridge the gap between research, policy-making and action in sustainable development, at and for the local level. ICLEI organizes knowledge brokerage between local governments and other stakeholder groups such as researchers, civil society initiatives, start-ups etc.

The PROMISE Tool has helped strengthen capacity of local government for integrated, participatory, inclusive and sustainable development and efficient resource mobilisation and utilisation to enhance service delivery, increase community participation and promote diversity in the urban system. Local authorities have been supported to create, enable and institutionalize equitable and inclusive governance mechanism and facilitate the development of smart and sustainable growth in cities through the project. Cities identified the projects that are most desirable and needed by the community. Local governments have recognized the need and importance of citizen engagement.

The Urban Transition Alliance connects industrial legacy cities from Europe, USA and China committed to accelerate ambitious and inclusive transitions, as well as showcasing their sustainability leadership. Alliance cities share their own transition experiences, knowledge and good practices based on social, economic and environmental challenges within their unique industrial legacy context. Through a tailored exchange platform hosted by ICLEI, the Alliance helps cities to identify and leverage expertise to co-create implementation strategies for sustainability-related projects.

During the current project phase, the ICLEI further encourages the Alliance member cities to include an equity-based approach in their transition projects, not only to achieve climate and environmental targets, but also to provide opportunities to vulnerable and disadvantaged groups. Alliance cities receive support on key equity-focused sustainability issues through two challenge cycles in 2020 and 2021 with 4-5 challenge topics selected per round. The outcomes of these challenge support cycles will shape a blueprint of lessons and good practices for cities worldwide on how social equity and climate action can reinforce each other.

In a rapidly urbanizing world, cities need to become smarter to respond to citizen needs and to reduce their environmental footprint. ICLEI is shaping the Smart City debate in Europe through the Lighthouse demonstration projects (such as GrowSmarter and RUGGEDISED), lead replication and exploitation efforts in more than 50 cities and constructively reflect upon the impact of smart solutions on achieving social cohesion and urban environmental goals.

ICLEI aims to increase the capacity of change makers, civil society and organizations to contribute to more just, sustainable and resilient futures. ICLEI offer academic and professional education on the theory and practice of transformative societal change, by facilitating peer-to-peer learning processes between 15 frontrunner cities and twice as many other cities within Europe.

ICLEI East Asia and UNDRR co-hosted two workshops for two Chinese cities – Ningbo and Chengdu – to raise awareness of urban resilience with specific focuses on climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction among local officials.
The workshops were structured in sessions of concept and tools introduction, and presentations of international and domestic cases on resilience and adaptation. Assessments of local resilience were also conducted via group exercises followed by suggestions on improvements.
ICLEI East Asia and UNDRR will continue to work to support 2 more local governments in China in implementing the Sendai Framework and other urban resilience objectives via workshops. It is expected that local disaster risk reduction planning will be better risk-informed when cities are equipped with skills to assess their respective risks, identify gaps, and ultimately lead to projects to address those gaps. A learning publication will be produced as the final output of the series, to share lessons learned on improving urban resilience in the context of global warming with other cities.

Cities are growing and changing so fast that many authorities are struggling to cope. ICLEI’s aim is to boost sustainable urban development, through city-to-city International Urban Cooperation (IUC) on and foster sub-national actions under the Global Covenant of Mayors initiative. ICLEI supports regional innovation strategies and inter-regional cooperation for local and regional development.

The IADAPT project addresses the water management issues in Indian cities, moving from existing water management practices that plan, establish and operate water supply, wastewater and storm water systems as separate entities to more integrated and collaborative approaches. ICLEI is helping two Indian cities – Solapur and Vijayawada to be climate resilient by developing an integrated catchment management plan guided by the decision support tool developed to move from conventional water management approaches to an ‘Integrated Approach’ based on the principles of IWRM and IUWM. The project will institutionalize climate adaptive water resource management at catchment level guided by participatory catchment planning, simple decision support tools, preparation of catchment level action plans and multi-pronged financing approaches.

ICLEI supports the island cities by providing streamlined processes for assessing their risks and challenges and developing achievable action plans. It works side-by-side with the cities and assists them to find partners for action. ICLEI has been working with Honiara since 2016 to assist the City to undertake a disaster risk self assessment and action, using the Sendai Framework and scorecards, building capacity and supporting city leaders and staff to attend international events for peer-to-peer exchange and learning. There is now a strong understanding of disaster risk reduction among City staff and elected councilors, and an understanding of how disasters and climate change impact all the city development challenges. The ongoing project has led to strong partnerships between ICLEI, UNISDR, UN Habitat and academic professionals and institutions.

Through this project, ICLEI enables adoption, implementation and dissemination of the best practices adopted by various Indian cities and setting benchmarks of creating climate resilient and sustainable urban habitats.The Climate Smart Cities program integrates climate change considerations into the planning and implementation of projects of the Smart City Plans in the three cities of Bhubaneswar (Orissa), Coimbatore (Tamil Nadu) and Kochi (Kerala). ICLEI is carrying out detailed assessment of Smart City plans of these cities to understand the baseline with reference to existing climate change measures and assess climate mitigation and adaptation potential of the smart city proposals. ICLEI is also contributing towards formulation of Government of India’s ‘Climate Smart Cities Assessment Framework (CSCAF)’ and facilitating test run of this framework in the project cities and hand holding them to submit the indicators data on the CSCAF. The project will facilitate enhanced and effective roll-out of the smart city actions in the cities.

American Geophysical Union’s Thriving Earth Exchange (TEX) program matches communities with earth and space scientists to lay strong, scientifically based foundations for climate action and adaptation planning. ICLEI partnered with TEX for a facilitated workshop with scientists and 12 communities, including ICLEI members Reno and Missoula. In 2017, ICLEI worked with members Antioch, East Lansing, and Savannah as part of the Resilience Dialogues, a public-private collaboration to connect communities with the most appropriate resources. ICLEI acted as a community network lead to help scientists, experts and city staff deliver a set of resiliency questions and connect threats to resource.

ICLEI supports Fiji cities by providing streamlined processes for assessing their risks and challenges and developing achievable action plans. It works side-by-side with the cities and assists them to find partners for action. ICLEI has recently assisted 7 city and town councils to undertake disaster risk self assessment and action planning, using the Sendai Framework and scorecards, and built capacity for disaster risk reduction at 2-day workshops with these cities. City staff and elected councilors now hav an understanding of how disasters and climate change impact all the city development challenges. The outcomes of the DRR workshops have been collated into a “Generic Fiji Local Government DRR Action Plan” and provided to the Ministry Local Government and the National Disaster Management Office as input for their current reviews of the Local Government Act and National Disaster Management Plan.

For a decade, the annual ICLEI Resilient Cities Congress has been providing an open, global space where local governments, researchers, businesses and civil society could meet as equals, contributing with their knowledge and expertise to the advancement of urban resilience. With up to 500 participants and more than 30 partners each year, Resilient Cities is a milestone event where ICLEI engages local, national and global decision makers, adaptation experts and city staff to assess global resilience indicators and forge new partnerships to advance resilient urban development.

While many island urban settlements are growing rapidly, climate change and increasingly frequent disasters are stressing urban systems. ICLEI promotes sustainable island and urban development through resilience and systems planning, clean energy, coastal fisheries management, infrastructure, innovative finance, ecosystems services, post disaster recovery and sustainable tourism. ICLEI collaborates with Mayors and leaders, through twinning of island cities with other cities and regions, to create fruitful partnerships to deliver scalable solutions to build resilience on islands and globally.

ICLEI’s ‘Holistic strategy and action plan for plastic waste management in GHMC’ will act as a guideline for various stakeholders for reducing the use of plastic waste in the city with the focus of making the city single-use plastic free by 2022.

The project also includes design and implementation of a pilot project and dissemination of policy implications by developing guidelines for plastic waste management which can be used as a model case for development of state level plastic waste management policy. The experience will later be shared with central government ministries and other stakeholders to consider as a model for implementing national guidelines on plastic waste management.

Within this project ICLEI accelerates knowledge transfer and dialogue and raise awareness of innovative public procurement in the field of Education and Technology Enhanced Learning across Europe. Specifically, ICLEI support by setting up a European follower group of cities/public procurers interested in the LEA project and technologies.

The project ‘Urban-Rural Assembly’ (URA) aims to build a better understanding of the urban-rural constellation and interdependencies that are emerging along China’s vast urbanisation corridors, and which can no longer be described through traditional binaries of ‘urban’ and ‘rural’. The region Huangyan-Taizhou, part of the Chinese ‘prefectural-level city‘ Taizhou, will be examined as an exemplary case study and learning context: a rapidly urbanising region where diverse and seemingly contradictory transformation processes take place simultaneously in close proximity, producing multiple dimensions of urban-rural interrelations. URA combines leading partners in the field of sustainable urban and regional transformation in Germany and China. ICLEI supports the research project in creating an interface between the research partners and policy makers, both within the case region as well as nationally in China and internationally. Through the development of transferable strategic instruments, enabling tools and guidelines, the project seeks to foster knowledge dissemination and transfer across the coastal urbanisation corridor – contributing to the urgent need for creative approaches towards localisation and implementation of the SDGs and the New Urban Agenda in China and beyond.

ICLEI is the Technical Support Group enlisted to assist 21 local Biodiversity Management Committees to produce their People’s Biodiversity Register, a repository of local knowledge on Biodiversity.

Through a set of 31 pre-formulated formats, information is collected on various aspects of biodiversity relevant in the local context. This is supplemented through photo documentation and in some cases video documentation. The register is confidential and cannot be shared outside of the main stakeholders at the local level, such as the Goa Biodiversity Board, the Biodiversity Management Committee and the National Biodiversity Authority.

ICLEI is carrying out a baseline assessment of the ecosystems and the services they provide to the city of Gangtok. ICLEI will complete a review of the policy environment with regard to biodiversity conservation is and a natural asset map for the city, which will all help to set the baseline for the Local Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan for the city. This will be in line with the State Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan and the National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan.

The project promotes sustainable management of high range Himalayan ecosystems to secure conservation of globally significant wildlife, including endangered snow leopard and their habitats and ensures sustainable livelihoods for local community in the four high altitude landscapes in the Trans- and Greater Himalayan region. These actions are aimed at maintaining ecosystem values and ameliorating climate change impacts, enhancing surveillance, monitoring and trans-boundary cooperation to reduce wildlife crime and related threats, and improving knowledge and communications. ICLEI will undertake extensive biodiversity surveys and mapping to identify the drivers of degradation in the alpine and sub-alpine landscapes of Himachal Pradesh. Based on the information thus collected, the project aims to develop a restoration plan for two degraded sites.

ICLEI supports the Assam State Government to prepare a nomination dossier which highlights Majuli Island’s Unique Natural and Cultural heritage which will enable it to be listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site.

The City-Business Collaboration Accelerator (CiBiX) is a platform to increase engagement and collaboration between cities and businesses on city-led urban sustainability challenges. Through CiBiX, ICLEI provides a neutral platform that enables local government to take an active role in presenting their challenges to relevant private sector experts. Together they are able to participate in an early-engagement workshop that helps the city to receive new contributions as well as identify potential solutions and partnerships which they can choose to further explore. For businesses, it provides a strong networking opportunity to connect with local governments and learn exactly what their needs are in a particular sector or challenge scenario. The CiBiX Platform encourages cities to frame their urban challenges with a private sector engagement perspective- helping them to take the first step towards exploring potential partnerships relevant for their needs. The first service is a short-form ideation and early engagement workshop to stimulate an open and transparent interactive dialogue between a lead city and well-matched private sector representatives with a sustainability challenge framing.

ICLEI provides a unique platform enabling local governments to exchange knowledge and good practice, consider emerging challenges and innovations and explore collaborative action towards seeking a paradigm shift for more sustainable, resilient and equitable urban water and sanitation practices in Africa. For this proect, ICLEI’s main aims are to promote knowledge exchange, build capacity, facilitate connections and empower advocacy.

Through the LAB: Wetlands South Africa project, ICLEI aimed to protect priority natural wetland resources located in South African municipalities, thus enabling the supply of ecosystem services and promoting resilient communities under a changing climate. The project raised awareness of the value of wetlands, mainstreamed wetlands into land-use planning and initiated pilot wetland projects. The LAB: Wetlands SA Project supported 11 municipalities with improving local government knowledge and understanding of the value of wetlands and how wetlands can support municipalities with achieving their mandates through the provision of ecosystem services; initiating the process of integrating wetlands, climate resilience, and biodiversity management into local government land-use planning and decision making. This to ensure that resilience and natural asset management is considered and factored into development planning; and implemented via small-scale pilot wetland projects with selected participating municipalities.

Through the Biodiversity Forum in Ulsan, ICLEI aims to develop and facilitate local driven policy action and raise citizen participation by co-planning, organizing and summarizing results together. Every year, biodiversity activists and NGOs participate and share their problems and solutions on chosen local biodiversity issues. This local Biodiversity Foru is a self-driven biodiversity event that gives local governments and residents a unique experience of raising awareness around the linkage between biodiversity and sustainable development, and biodiversity activities around the country.

ICLEI’s main activities in the project include: Taking the lead in transferring and customizing NBS, Co-developing NBS replication roadmap for FE, Co-developing the Urban NBS Plan along with the funding and investment strategies for FE, Co-developing the NBS implementation plan and opportunity-based implementation in FE districts and Launching a CLEVER Exchange Programme by organizing webinars, workshops, study visits etc. to ensure knowledge transfer. ICLEI will also ensure strategic coordination of communication and dissemination activities and Organize dissemination and knowledge brokerage events. These efforts will help to (i) advance the knowledge base on NBS for inclusive urban regeneration, (ii) integrate NBS in urban regeneration and planning processes, and (iii) produce governance, business and financial models for NBS projects.

Water should be a priority in the EU policies due to its importance for the economy, environment, and quality of life of the European citizens. ICLEI has created an alliance with 25 cities to prepare a framework for European cities with the objective of achieving a more coherent and thus more effective representation and visibility for water at the EU level. ICLEI aims to achieve this by supporting the implementation of the European Union water policy and the SDGs through sustainable water management at local level.

Local governments are leading the change to an integrated planning approach, in which protected areas are a fundamental component of both urban and rural landscapes. Innovative solutions at the local level are being applied to integrate local protected areas into municipal planning and territorial development strategies, as well as into local management systems. ICLEI is improving the conditions of local governments to conserve biodiversity through the effective and equitable management of protected areas and other area-based conservation measures. The project combines a multi-scale and programmatic approach, focusing on strengthening local level capacities and governance as well as the role of local governments in the effective management of protected areas and other area-based conservation measures within the four countries’ institutional and legal frameworks. Benefits and challenges are disseminated at the local, subnational, national and international level.

Urban Natural Assets for Africa (UNA), implemented from 2014 to present, in eight cities and six countries, seeks to improve human well-being, contribute to poverty alleviation and build climate resilience through integrating nature-based solutions into land use planning. UNA has three flagship projects; Urban Natural Assets for Africa (UNA Africa), Urban Natural Assets for Africa: Rivers for Life (UNA Rivers) and Urban Natural Assets for Africa: Coasts for Life (UNA Coasts). UNA Coasts cities in Mozambique receive support with improved knowledge and understanding of challenges and opportunities within urban coastal zones; using natural assets to offset these challenges and maximise opportunities; the development of a tailor-made coastal natural asset management plan; and identifying opportunities to enhance sustainable livelihoods. UNA Rivers supports cities to mainstream biodiversity and nature-based solutions into land use planning and decision-making processes; increase awareness of ecosystem services; improve co-ordination between key stakeholders; connect with local communities to encourage appreciation of nature and enhance human well-being; and implement community-based projects for restoration and revitalisation along urban rivers.

Through CitiesWithNature (CWN), local and regional governments are able to enhance the potential of nature to provide essential ecosystem services and solutions for the overall health of human habitats and urban areas. Through this platform, cities can engage, connect, learn, share, act, and inspire each other in the way of biodiversity and urban nature. ICLEI enables its local and regional constituency to access and influence global biodiversity processes and provides a one-stop-shop, or “big tent” under which projects, initiatives, and programs aimed at enhancing nature can be celebrated, shared, and promoted. ICLEI develops strategic global partnerships and the ongoing and continuous development of the various components of the CWN platform. CWN is recognized by the SCBD as the official vehicle for local and subnational governments to report their commitments and ambitions for the post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework.

ICLEI provides awareness raising and capacity building to all spheres of government in mainstreaming biodiversity, through guidance on vertical and horizontal integration to ensure successful implementation of biodiversity strategies and action plans (BSAPS); clarifies the role and contribution to be made at national, subnational and local level; and provide practical technical guidance to national, subnational and local governments in 13 areas of action to promote integration, coordination and cooperation in developing and implementing National Biodiversity Strategies and Action Plans under the Convention of Biological Diversity.

ICLEI supports the sub-national governments’ initiative on achieving Aichi Biodiversity Targets. Aichi Prefecture called for a group of leading sub-national governments showing significant efforts for achieving the Aichi Targets. The initiative was established during CBD-COP13 in Cancun, Mexico in 2016 and joined by a significant number of sub-national governments. ICLEI supported its launch and is contributing to develop their joint activities toward COP14 and beyond.

The goal of this project is to mainstream biodiversity, nature-based solutions and ecosystem management, seek recognition for these as cross-sectoral tasks and integrated them in subnational Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plans and sector plans in three model city-regions. ICLEI launched the four-year INTERACT-Bio project in three Global South countries: Brazil, India and Tanzania. ICLEI is using a co-creation and co-production approach to implement the project activities. Through the project, city-regions will align their planning with their National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plans (NBSAPs), which are required by the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). Through strengthened cooperation between the different levels of government, subnational action in support of the NBSAPs is promoted and enabled. Such collaborative approaches will ultimately support nations to accelerate biodiversity goals.

Using empirical research, ICLEI is developing a framework and tools to assess changes in food-water-energy nexus, their related trade-offs and the building of innovative capabilities in cities for developing innovative solutions to the food, water and energy nexus and manage green and blue infrastructure at the urban level. ICLEI is supporting the development of frameworks and tools that guide urban governance on the food-water-energy nexus, delivering innovative solutions to mitigate climate change and biodiversity loss, while advancing development goals from food security to job creation across cities worldwide. The project assesses the changes in trade-offs of food-water-energy nexus (FWEN) in green and blue infrastructure (GBI) and their association with spatial planning and governance in eight cities using empirical cases. This will provide a better understanding of the barriers that hinder innovative and integrated FWEN approaches using GBI at different scales; and look for the common features of diverse interventions.

Since 2008, ICLEI’s Cities Biodiversity Center (CBC) has convened successive summits as official parallel events to the Conference on Biological Diversity COP, to enable local and subnational governments engagement. These Summits have resulted in strong political outcomes, including the Quintana Roo (2016) and Sharm El-Sheikh (2018) Communiques, Nagoya Plan of Action on Subnational Governments, Cities and Other Local Authorities for Biodiversity (2011 – 2020), adopted at COP 10 in 2010, and of many decisions on local and subnational governments. Through these outcomes, ICLEI CBC has shaped a global policy environment that supports local and regional governments in their efforts to scale up and mainstream nature in sustainable urban development worldwide. ICLEI has also developed a dedicated website for local and subnational governments to advance the Action Agenda for Nature and People and the post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework and holds monthly informational webinars. The CBC supports the work of CitiesWithNature.

Through the project, ICLEI will support 20 cities, with emission inventories, targets and guidelines for mitigation. It includes preparation of an inventory of GHG emissions and atmospheric pollutants; future emission scenarios for 5, 10, 20 and 40 years, with reduction targets; institutional implementation strategies and inventory review mechanisms; and training of RMC technicians in the GPC methodology to allow the initiative to be internally replicated in the inventory review processes.

By participating in GCoM, Korean local governments can make their climate actions more ambitious and consistent through reporting and learn from their peers about ambitious climate actions.In order to support Korean local government participation in GCoM, ICLEI organizes GCoM sessions at international climate events such as Seoul Mayors Forum, supports local governments’ reporting to ICLEI-CDP unified reporting system, translates guidance and materials (e.g. Common Reporting Framework, CDP reporting guidance), invites local governments to various networking opportunities on urban climate action, publicizes their activities related to GCoM initiative and outreachs to cities of potential interest with Korean promotional materials.

ICLEI is the lead author, supported by groups of city and carbon accounting experts from various fields, in the development of industry standards for local government GHG emissions accounting in the US. The development of the U.S. Community Protocol, the Local Government Operations Protocol, and the Recycling and Composting Protocol positioned ICLEI as exclusive experts in local government carbon accounting. Recognizing this expertise, ICLEI was asked to contribute to the development of the Global Protocol for Community Scale GHG emissions (GPC) and is currently working on an update to the U.S. Community Protocol to better account for forestry and land use changes. ICLEI continues to provide technical guidance for the application of the protocols to cities and practitioners around the world.

Over the course of the PACMUN project, ICLEI has worked with over 450 Mexican municipalities to develop GHG inventories, collect data and define local climate action plans. Project activities focus on building the capacity of municipal staff to establish goals and prioritize actions on climate and resilience. Municipalities also work with ICLEI to report their climate and data and can voluntarily submit their climate action plans to the Ministry of Environment.

ICLEI has supported Fórum CB27 since its creation in 2012, and, in 2017, the Konrad Adenauer Foundation invited ICLEI to contribute to the institutional strengthening of the group through a strategic planning process and regular facilitation of CB27 meetings. ICLEI’s mission is directly connected to the Forum’s activities, in that it seeks to connect cities and local governments dedicated to sustainable development.
As a strategic partner of CB27, ICLEI supports its planning, content curation and meeting preparation, communication strategies, advocacy cooperation, and operation of the Executive Secretariat of the Forum, as well as actively participates in meetings and activites and coordinates advocacy strategies.

In nearly three decades of work, ICLEI has developed, tested and scaled up methodologies to guide the way towards sustainable urban development at the local level. This rich experience accumulated allows us to apply a common framework for our global projects and initiatives, which currently follows the stages: analysis, action and acceleration, and in each one follows a step-by-step guideline. This track can be applied to a variety of themes – from low emission to nature-based development – and promotes a cyclical path that allows the continuous improvement of the governments in our Network. This year’s “Cities + Sustainable – ICLEI South America Solutions Portfolio” highlights the following opportunities and initiatives ICLEI provides cities and regions in South America.

ICLEI operates the Helpdesk on behalf of the European Commission, with the goal of providing an easy entry point to GPP for all European public authorities to increase the uptake and professionalization of GPP. Part of the GPP Helpdesk service are the publication of monthly newsletters, answering Helpdesk queries, semi-annual educational webinars on a content management on the European Commission’s GPP website; and dissemination of GPP policy and practice towards the Member States and all other organizations that fall within the scope of the EU Public Procurement Directives.

ICLEI supports the leading national sustainable cities initiative in Japan. The initiative started as Environmental Model City Initiative in 2008, evolved into FutureCIty Initiative in 2011, and matured as SDGs FutureCity Initiative in 2018. ICLEI and member cities have been actively involved in the Initiative from the beginning; and recently contributed to The 7th International Forum focused on the localization of SDGs.

The African Capital Cities Sustainability Forum (ACCSF) draws together mayors and technical officers from the continent’s most prominent cities to provide a guiding light for how African cities must think about the future and lead sustainability efforts. It facilitates the exchange of knowledge and learning and provides a platform for exploring how to develop truly African solutions to African problems. The event marshals the collective power of capital cities to contribute to, and influence, the pan-African and global discourse on sustainability.

ICLEI, as the co-convener of the ACCSF, is responsible for the
content development and program design of the ACCSF. By hosting the annual event, which brings together mayors and city managers of African capital cities, ICLEI facilitates the exchange knowledge and information on potential interventions, opportunities and threats that influence the potential for economic growth, social inclusion and environmental protection.