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 promotes low carbon urban freight policies and practices addressing climate change mitigation and the ambitions of NDCs. By highlighting ecologistics as a priority area for local and national governments the project raises awareness, collects and develops policy recommendations, develops action plans and guides pioneering cities to exemplary action. The project strengthens institutional capacity through multi-level stakeholder participation, develops an urban freight emission assessment tool, implements demonstration projects in cities, and makes national policy recommendations. A project platform accessible globally shares knowledge on best practices and connects local governments to solution providers.

The overarching goal of the “CitiesSHIFT: Capacity building and networking for climate- and people-friendly mobility” project is to support cities to identify challenges and opportunities of urban mobility system in hope that the city could shift towards more sustainable modes of travel i.e. walking, cycling, shared and public transport. Building a healthy living environment: Urban form and sustainable mobility system contribute to a healthy urban environment. This TWG helps cities to get a big picture of what the residents need and the kind of city that the policymakers would like to create. Three main aspects: managing urban form and public space to benefit all residents; providing integrated, multimodal and ecomobile travel options. Emerging mobility trends: The emerging mobility trends that cities have seen in recent years range from electric mobility to shared mobility systems, presenting new opportunities to reduce individual ownership and usage of private vehicles. The goal of this TWG is to support local governments to understand the different policy and market drivers to maximize the benefits of electric mobility and new mobility services to support an ecomobile vision.

Responding to the Fijian COP23 Presidency call, in its capacity as focal point of the Local Governments and Municipal Authorities (LGMA) constituency at the UNFCCC, ICLEI worked with UN-Habitat and the Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate and Energy to mobilize Cities and Regions Talanoa Dialogues in 2018. The aim was to enable discussion between different levels of government on scaling up climate action.

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.

The Transformative Actions Program (TAP) provides a framework for this by connecting transformative local climate projects with project preparation facilities (PPFs) and tools that improve project bankability. Projects in the pipeline are screened based on their transformative impact which ensures their enduring potential. ICLEI develops partnerships that connect the goals of diverse stakeholders into one coherent value chain for developing robust, transformative and bankable projects that will accelerate low-to-no emission and climate-resilient development. ICLEI regional offices act as catalysts for mobilizing projects and as the first “filter” to identify priority projects.

The project promotes multilevel governance policy dialogue, strengthen capacities and encourage the development of national, regional and local enabling frameworks to unlock local RE potential, also addressing energy efficiency. ICLEI will showcase how local projects and policies contribute to the achievement of national climate and energy targets in Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) and other policy objectives such as energy security and job creation, in alignment with the Sustainable Development Goals.

Human activities contribute a significant and growing proportion of global greenhouse gas emissions, with the increased demand for energy and other services in urban areas – also driven by rapid population growth – exacerbating the climate challenge. There is an urgent need for actions that will substantially contribute to the Paris Agreements climate targets, to stay well below 1.5 Degrees Celsius.

Under the Urban-LEDS Phase II project funded by the European Commission, United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat) and ICLEI are jointly implementing this project addressing integrated climate action in local governments and their cities. Using ICLEI’s GreenClimateCities process methodology, technical guidance and capacity development is provided to selected local governments, also mobilizing cities to commit to the Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate & Energy (GCoM), exploring access to financing and supporting multilevel governance to enable effective action.

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.