The City Climate Planner program ensures urban professionals are equipped to support local climate action planning, including developing greenhouse gas (GHG) emission inventories; climate action planning (low emission development planning); and climate adaptation planning. These efforts are essential building blocks of local planning and policy development efforts of local governments in addressing climate change.

The Urban Greenhouse Gas Inventory Specialist credential is City Climate Planner program’s first professional certification. It focuses on GHG emission inventories, recognized as a key building block in developing quality climate action plans. Over 20 professionals at ICLEI – Local Governments for Sustainability are accredited to provide the training.

Recognizing that cities play an important role in leading the way to achieve carbon neutrality in the second half of this century, namely the goals of the Paris Agreement, ICLEI supports cities and regions laying out their vision on a sustainable society in 2050. The declaration lays out a vision for cities leading up to 2050 and encourages cities around the world to join Kyoto in cultivating a culture of sustainable cities that is in balance with the local and global environment.

ICLEI is one of organizers of the Global Corporate Sustainability Forum which brings together organizations, institutions and academia and features diverse and engaging activities. The implementation of corporate sustainability initiatives is one of the main activities that are now expected from the international business community, not only for their own long-term interests but for the world’s common interests. To bridge the gap and open the dialogue between public and private sectors on sustainability in Asia, ICLEI will host a parallel session on Cities Initiatives during the opening day of Global Corporate Sustainability Forum, in cooperation with the Organizer, Chinese Taipei Institute for Sustainable Energy (TAISE), ICLEI Member Cities in Chinese Taipei and other local partners.

To achieve the goals of the OPN on SPP the following activities are carried out: Support SPP implementation by assisting procuring entities and procurement practitioners at local, regional, and national levels; Initiate enabling conditions for stimulating change in international sectoral markets through procurement; Advocate and mobilise political leadership and support for sustainable procurement; Support countries in demonstrating the public value (economic, environmental, social) of sustainable procurement implementation.

Building upon ICLEI´s commitment to engage in the NDC Partnership and as the first associate member, ICLEI created a modular approach to addresses the vertical integration of NDC implementation and investment plans, outlining the contribution of local and regional governments in the NDCs. ICLEI’s participation is structured in four parts: coordinating a multilevel action working group (MAWG); knowledge products and tools; country engagement for developing Partnership Plans (PPs), working with countries wanting to join the NDCP; and project management and coordination with a range of partners.

CITYFOOD accelerates local and regional government action on sustainable and resilient city-region food systems by combining networking with technical expertise through training and policy guidance and facilitating local and regional engagement in international discourse.

The network promotes food security, social inclusion, economic development and environmental resource management by combining networking with training, policy guidance and technical expertise on city-region food systems worldwide.

The EcoMobility Alliance is a network of selected committed cities led by innovators and visionaries, supported by experts and businesses. The EcoMobility Alliance cities are a select group of ambitious cities that have achieved positive results in specific dimensions of sustainable mobility, and that strive to reduce their dependence on fossil fuel-based personal automobiles. The vision is that of vibrant cities, where communities and organizations can access goods, services, people and information in an ecomobilemanner. Through a service-oriented structure, collective learning exercises, peer-to-peer exchanges and joint activities, Alliance Cities help each other to reach self-set goals. An Alliance Secretariat along with a group of partners support Alliance Cities through their expertise, experience, and technology. ICLEI works with the Alliance to promote and advocate for ecomobility in cities, towns and rural settlements on the basis of its beneficial effects on health conditions, air cleanness, noise avoidance, and efficient use of public space, energy efficiency and citizens’ savings.

The Global Lead City Network on Sustainable Procurement is a group of cities committed to drive the transition to sustainable consumption and production by implementing sustainable and innovation procurement. Participating cities act as ambassadors of sustainable procurement to lead to a resource efficient, low carbon and socially responsible society. Their aim is to share and develop capabilities to implement sustainable purchasing practices, as well as to help develop a supportive political framework for implementation.

ICLEI coordinates the GCLN on Sustainable Public Procurement. Through defining quantified targets for their procurement processes, the GLCN members create political commitment to SPP. This allows them to implement ambitious SPP practices. After announcing quantifiable sustainable procurement related targets at COP23 in Bonn, ICLEI and the network will seek to expand its membership in different world regions, focusing on regional sustainable procurement leaders – in terms of achievements and/or ambition.

ICLEI provides technical guidance by participating in GCoM’s technical working groups, which address mitigation and adaptation in specific data-related sub-groups, including Emissions and Targets; Climate Action Planning; Resilience; and Access to Energy. ICLEI also participates in non-data related groups, including Access to Finance; Governance and Regional Coherence; Research; and Communications.

ICLEI has a representative in each group and sub-group, submits written comments and attends calls and in-person meetings. The goal is to unify and centralize how data are reported, using which channels, and how is it communicated to global stakeholders. ICLEI also provides data revision towards GCoM requirements for ICLEI Members and network of cities.

Funded by the Global Environment Facility (GEF),The Global Platform for Sustainable Cities (GPSC) is a partnership and knowledge platform that promotes integrated solutions and cutting-edge support for cities seeking to improve their urban sustainability. ICLEI, together with WRI and C40, serve on the GPSC Resource Team. The Resource Team facilitates peer exchange and provides high-level technical assistance, capacity development and curated knowledge products to local and regional governments to advance sustainable, and integrated, urban development. The GPSC RT serves local and regional governments by implementing a needs assessment and offering peer exchange, delivering training and promotional events and webinars and creating new and curated knowledge products. By situating city-level implementation projects in a broad sustainability framework, ICLEI, as a member of the GPSC RT, offers a holistic approach to urban development.