Our Activities

The ‘Platform on Coal Regions in Transition’ supports coal regions (local and/or regional governments) to take on the challenge of the clean energy transition by building capacity through needs-oriented technical assistance, focusing on key areas of the transition process; developing support materials, toolkits, guidelines, and reports, focusing on issues such as employment, governance, financing, environmental rehabilitation, clean air, and technologies; and connecting stakeholders and facilitating dialogue among regions and the wider stakeholder community. ICLEI aims to build awareness of the Platform and develop a reputation for the Platform as a valuable source of expertise and information among primary target audiences. ICLEI fosters the creation of dynamic knowledge-sharing communities among the Platform’s primary target audiences and encourages participation in cooperation and knowledge-sharing activities.

ICLEI enhances the socially inclusive and environmentally sound market uptake of wind energy by increasing its social acceptance in ‘wind energy scarce regions’ (WESR). The specific objectives are screening, analysing, discussing, replicating, testing and disseminating feasible solutions for increasing social acceptance and thereby the uptake of wind energy.
ICLEI actively contributes to driving the transition to renewable energy sources in Europe forward.

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between Beijing and Seoul (2019-), focusing on the comparison of the two cities’ policies on the replacement of outdated boilers, vehicle control, fugitive dust management and seasonal control measures.

Since 2011 the ‘Municipal Climate Partnerships’ project has aimed to strengthen partnerships between municipalities in Germany and developing countries for climate change mitigation and adaptation. The fifth phase of the project involves partnerships between German municipalities and municipalities in the Philippines and Vietnam, such as the three between Filipino and German municipalities, namely Muñoz – Marburg, Dumangas – Herdecke and Lubang – Ebhausen.

Through a process of professional peer-to-peer dialogue and exchange of experiences, in conjunction with mutual visits by delegations of local government experts, the municipal actors from Germany and their counterparts develop a joint bilateral program of action for climate change mitigation and adaptation. Both municipalities will identify specific project activities to be implemented in the joint program of action, and the resources needed for this.

ICLEI provides support in implementing workshops, delegation visits, and advisory services. The delegation visits provide partner municipalities a peek of the realities on the ground. This will then be one of the basis in prioritizing projects and activities in their joint program of action. All project activities are conducted in close coordination with Engagement Global/SKEW.

ICLEI enables the mainstreaming of the prosumer phenomenon into the European Energy Union, supporting citizen participation, inclusiveness and transparency and most of all to contribute to a sustainable energy transition for Europe through decentralized approaches towards 2030 and 2050.

Through Ambitious City Promises, target local governments across Southeast Asia participate in in-country consultations to facilitate capacity building, policy advice and technology transfer support; develop new or improved comprehensive greenhouse gas emissions inventories; actively engage city residents and key local climate stakeholders; prepare concrete climate action plans – called City Promises – that include ambitious targets and integrate community pledges; initiate implementation of City Promises through pilot projects; report aggregated city plans, actions and achievements; and engage in learning and cooperation opportunities with the Seoul Metropolitan Government and other cities.

Through Ambitious City Promises, ICLEI aims to develop and deploy bottom-up models of climate action planning, establish lasting mechanisms for knowledge sharing, and contribute to local, national and global climate goals.

The Promise of Seoul, a comprehensive climate strategy adopted by the Seoul Metropolitan Government at the ICLEI World Congress in 2015, is at the heart of Ambitious City Promises. It provides a model of effective climate action at the community level, showing that cities can be both engines of growth and global leaders on climate action by establishing inclusive low emission urban economies.

The Procura+ East Asia Green Procurement Network aims to accelerate climate and environmental actions by equipping local governments and public authorities in East Asia with advanced knowledge and skills to upscale green and sustainable procurement practices at the local level. Through Procura+ East Asia, participating local authorities will be equipped with GPP approaches and tools via training programs, and will be provided with access to expert guidance on formulating local green specifications and procurement strategies, as well as tender advice on targeted climate and environmental issues. Participants will also have various opportunities to showcase their successful stories and achievements in green procurement on the international stage by participating in forums/workshops, the Procura+ Award, and publishing case studies on the Procura+ Online Platform. The project connects public authorities, solution providers and advocacy in the region to collectively mainstream green procurement practices at the local level, and promote advanced GPP knowledge and experiences for peer learning and exchange internationally.

ICLEI is helping to develop a Sustainable Urban Development framework in South Asia. The framework is to be based on UNEP’s Environmental, Social and Economic Sustainability framework, addressing the recently adopted Sustainable Development Goals, through actions developed on the basis of the framework. The goal of the framework is to adopt an integrated approach where the principles of a socially inclusive, economically viable, resilience and environmentally sound growth, drive all decisions and actions (governance, policies, strategies, technologies, infrastructure, planning, community involvement etc.) and result in sustained and resilient economic development in the region.

ICLEI East Asia has works with SHRDC to conduct annual training programs to support local officials from ICLEI Member and other cities in Asia in strengthening their efforts to achieve sustainable and low emission urban development.

In 2019, two training programs were organized – one solely dedicated to Chinese Cities who participated in the 2019 International Forum on Air Quality Improvement jointly organized by the Seoul Metropolitan Government and ICLEI. And the other one for Southeast Asian Cities via the Ambitious City Promises project. Each program was designed to focus on policies that can be applied per the participating cities’ local context, considering their general socio-economic development and cooperation with the private sector and citizens. Through the policy presentations, site visits and group discussions, the participants were able to gain the latest insight on climate change mitigation and adaptation, energy transition, transportation, waste management, and citizen-led governance.

As a take-away of the training, participants presented their drafted action plans, combining learnings from the week-long training and their daily tasks.

ICLEI is implementing the BEA project Phase 2 in Africa through three initiatives.
1. BEA Africa Regional Network: ICLEI Africa coordinates the Africa Regional Network for BEA where organisations working across Africa on issues of building efficiency share lessons, current practices, and coordinate their work. Through this network, organisations are able to connect and align their efforts to ensure cities across Africa are well-supported to improve building efficiency. ICLEI is actively recruiting cities and private sector partners to be members of the BEA Partnership.
2. BEA Deep Dive in City of Tshwane, South Africa: ICLEI Africa, in partnership with the Green Building Council of South Africa, is implementing one of eight global BEA Deep Dive engagements in the City of Tshwane, South Africa.
3. Leadership Grant: Audit and training of implementtion of South Africa’s national building efficiency legisation in three municipalities in KwaZulu Natal, South Africa

The Building Energy Efficiency Accelerator (BEA) assists sub-national governments in speeding up the process of adoption of best-practice policies and implementation of building efficiency projects, with the goal of doubling the rate of energy efficiency improvement in the building sector by 2030.

ICLEI is the regional lead for all activities in Southeast Asia.The BEA process of engagement in a city includes support for: Assessing and prioritizing locally-appropriate policies and actions; Implementing actions, through matching needs with expertise, resources and tools; Tracking action and documenting progress, and sharing lessons learned. BEA engages cities through a menu of policy options and key actions based on needs, and activities the partnership can provide in each location. Cities prioritize policies and activities, and the partnership connect them to resources and engagement around those priorities.

ICLEI is the Local Building Efficiency Accelerator Lead Partner, taking responsibility to plan and execute the work plan, to coordinate participating cities and stakeholders, and to facilitate the engagement among business and local governments in East Asia.

ICLEI maintains a long-lasting relationship with participating cities and partners by building an active and easy-to-reach communication channel, provides technical assistance to support cities in applying for international funding, and assists cities to develop commitment and form a feasible work plan.

Through the Building Efficiency Accelerator, local governments in China and Mongolia have ICLEI as a reliable partner to inquire about practical information for policy design and planning, to have access to international funding opportunities for project implementation and replication, and to strengthen the relationship with non-governmental stakeholders. The Building Efficiency Accelerator and ICLEI support local governments to cross the institutional, financial, and behavioral barriers.

ICLEI will lead the implementation of activities in Germany with 10 local governments and 1 region and work on the dissemination and exploitation of the projects results. Aline to this, workshops for local and regional authorities at a national level will be organized, project’s communication activities will be established and informational events in participating countries will be run. The aim is to capitalize on the project outputs, trigger and facilitate planning for carbon neutrality at a local and regional level more widely across Europe and encourage the replication of exemplar sustainable energy and climate resilient projects.

Procura+ is a network of European public authorities and regions that connect, exchange and act on sustainable and innovation procurement. The network has 45 participating public authorities from 16 European countries. ICLEI offers the Procura+ participants a range of activities and resources to advance their sustainable public procurement work, including recognition through the Procura+ Awards; a city twinning program to facilitate staff exchanges; a platform to share plans and publicize successes; education and professional development opportunities; and the Procura+ manual, an accessible guide supporting public authorities in successfully implementing sustainable public procurement.

In order to take accurate actions against climate change, it is fundamental to know the exact data. ICLEI developed and maintains an online suite of emissions management tools packaged together in an application known as ClearPath. The software is based on the Greenhouse Gas emissions protocols and allows cities in North American cities to calculate, forecast, plan, and monitor emissions under all community and local government operations protocols.