Our Activities

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.

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.

ICLEI established a replicable framework that can be used by local governments throughout the country to attribute the observed changes in community GHG emissions inventories. Practitioners within cities and counties are now able to harness data to produce a more accurate depiction in changes to community-scale efficiency, communicate those trends more clearly, and use the data to evaluate the effectiveness of policies and programs. The project components are development of the Contribution Analysis methodology; application of the techniques of Contribution Analysis to a range of community types to illustrate the drivers of change in various communities; production of a “replication toolkit” which clearly describes the steps in the process, provides guidance and templates for additional communities to adopt and take forward; and distrbution of these new resources widely.

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.

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.

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.

District Energy Systems produce steam, hot water or chilled water at a central plant, making them much more efficient and less energy consuming. Under this project ICLEI assesses potential for district energy systems in Indian cities with an aim to develop integrated roadmaps for energy policy and investment for scale-up of district cooling in specific cities. ICLEI’s objective is to assist Indian cities to accelerate their transition to low-carbon and climate resilient societies through modern district energy system.

ICLEI East Asia serves as the Secretariat of EACAC, providing a long-term cooperation platform for East Asian cities committed to tackling air pollution through city-to-city exchange and collaboration.
The main activities of EACAC include: 1) (co)organizing forums, workshops and study trips for capacity building; 2) facilitating participants' engagement; 3) compiling case studies on East Asian cities’ air quality management; and 4) mobilizing resources for future development of the program and its member cities.
Under EACAC, ICLEI East Asia has provided the seed funding of the research project “Green Lung” in Ulaanbaatar (2017-2019), which promotes urban greening as a means to improve air quality in the city. ICLEI East Asia has also supported the Beijing Bureau of Ecology and Environment in strengthening its capacity on international cooperation (2018-2019), and deliver a bilateral research between Beijing and Seoul (2019-), focusing on the comparison of the two cities’ policies on the replacement of outdated boilers, vehicle control, fugitive dust management and seasonal control measures.

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 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.

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.

ICLEI stimulates new mobility policies which put people rather than cars at the center, by organizing EcoMobility World Festivals that turn a single neighborhood into an ecomobile, car-free zone for one month, coinciding with a global congress that sparks debate on low emission, human centered and city friendly mobility.

The EcoProcura conference series is where public procurement policy meets practice, and where future innovations originate. For 20 years EcoProcura conferences promote exchange and dialogue amongst purchasers from all levels of governments, suppliers, policy-makers and multipliers on strategies and the latest practical solutions on SPP every 3-4 years. The purpose of the EcoProcura is to provide a forum to encourage public authorities (with a focus on local governments) and their partners, such as businesses, to exchange experiences and coordinate their actions and purchasing power in favour of sustainable and innovative products and services.

>> 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 supports the communications effort of the EIP-SCC Marketplace and will seek to ensure the inclusion of cities and others to strengthen the ‚explore-shape-deal‘ approach of the matchmaking. ICLEI supports the matchmaking events and brings in its sustainable procurement expertise. In particular ICLEI will ensure the EIP SCC Marketplace engages with other European initiatives and experts for input and dissemination. ICLEI also is the expert of the action cluster on Sustainable Urban Mobility.