The objective of the IUC programme is to contribute to improve international urban policy diplomacy and increase decentralized cooperation on sustainable urban development and climate change through a focus on sustainable energy. In North America the focus of the project is 1) on peering North American cities with European one so that they can learn from each other on how to tackle their GHG emissions and 2) on providing technical support to GCOM members.

ICLEI provides the capacity of the second key expert and two non-key experts who conduct the following activities:
1) Provide latest information, methodologies, tools, knowledge and skills that support local governments’ projects and policies at all stages of planning and implementation.
2) Support knowledge sharing and exchange of best practices between the Korean and EU cities.
3) Support policy dialogue events and meetings specifically in relation to topics related to sustainable urban development
4) Compile case studies and related stakeholder profiles
The project activity includes establishment of a digital platform, in which EU and Korean nonstate actors can join, share and accelerate climate action. It is expected that exchanging best practices and matching needs through the joint platform will increase the replication of successes, avoid repetition of failures, and generally lead to more ambitious and impactful climate actions.

Through the project, ICLEI will support in the preparation of the Vulnerability Index and Climate Change Adaptation Plan for the city of Recife, which aims to identify and prioritize concrete measures to adapt to climate change in the city, based on the analysis vulnerability and climate risk, addressing the environmental, economic and social dimensions in a way that contributes to building the city's climate resilience in the face of dangers related to climate change. The project will take place through the city vulnerability analysis for climate change and the identification of priority areas of intervention with emphasis on priority intervention areas (hotspots).

Through the project, ICLEI will support in the development of a technical training for Baixada Santista Municipalities for identifying vulnerabilities and developing adaptation measures to prevent the impacts of climate change on water resources. The overall objective of this project is to ensure that the target audience is trained on the issue with a focus on adaptation, in order to identify vulnerabilities, propose adaptation measures to prevent risks to water resources and to access financial resources for elaboration of plans, programs or projects for the implementation of adaptation actions in the Baixada Santista region.

This proposal outlines a mechanism that could offer comprehensive support and a replicable approach that could be applied globally to assist local and regional governments to develop robust and transformative projects, and to help them to navigate in the complex world of technical and financial options, meet in person potential partners, and so contributing to close the above described gap between supply and demand.

ICLEI is gathering information and quantifying the climate impact of options to allow people to make better lifestyle choices aligned to a 1.5 degree scenario. We are doing this by estimating the average carbon footprint of middle class Capetonians, and estimating the carbon reduction impact of various lifestyle choices. This will help to bring to the fore practical actions that citizens and local governments can take to reduce carbon emissions.

ICLEI participated in the development of the current version of the GPC as part of a multi-institutional cooperation along with The World Bank; UN Habitat; WRI and C40 and promoted the use and application of this protocol through its programs and related projects. Currently ICLEI participates in the further iteration of the GPC along with C40 and WRI which will allow complete integration with the Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate and Energy – Common Reporting Framework.

This will allow vertical (Multi-level) and horizontal integration of data for reporting entities reducing the effort to report in several standards of frameworks.

ICLEI‘s is leading this network under its thematic community on renewables. This network serves as the entry point for local & regional governments to participate in the Global 100% RE Platform.
Cities, towns and regions, who have a 100% RE target in at least one sector or committed to explore a 100% RE pathway or commit to sharing of information, knowledge exchange and are interested in international cooperation, are invited to join this network.
ICLEI's 100% RE network and the 100% RE global platform, provides knowledge exchange, engagement and policy dialogue with other leading cities and experts on a global scale. This is inclusive and free of charge.
Cities, towns and regions can join the network based on their needs, challenges and level of development. They benefit from learning and cooperation opportunities with other leading cities, access to experts on renewables and energy efficiency, opportunities to globally promote local solutions and service providers, worldwide recognition of the progress achieved, visibility to champion local and regional leaders at global level

ICLEI worked with partners to organize the Low-Carbon City 2.0 Professional Series Workshops and The International Conference on Mitigation Strategies for Green Transformation in Cities. International experts from Korea, Japan, Singapore, and Malaysia were invited to give a series of trainings on decarbonizing actions, urban energy efficiency improvement and low-carbon transformation featuring case studies in East Asia cities and the world. The in-depth discussions between local officers and international experts enhanced the sense of responsibility of carbon reduction in various departments, and promoted the role of local governments in changing from “regulation” to the supporting multi-stakeholders in the new climate and low carbon regime.

ICLEI South America’s “First steps for local action” GHG emissions inventories online training addresses the initial phases for cities to start acting on climate. It offers local authorities introductory concepts of the challenges cities are facing with climate change and guides them through practical guidelines to tackle the problem, based on the GreenClimateCities (GCC) methodology. To support autonomy and leadership in cities, the training also highlighted the technologies available to support GHG emissions evaluation and analysis, through Clearpath and CLIMAS platforms, and showcased testimonies from cities who have already started or succeed in the process.

These online trainings have been held since 2016, but in 2018 it was the first time it was available in a new and dynamic format online.The training was offered to the local staff of all South American ICLEI members during a period of 5-weeks course, comprised of informative videos, supplemental reading resources, live webinars with specialists, quizzes and remote support.

As a result of the training, local government representatives have a better understanding of the challenge they have ahead of them and will be able to conduct the GCC methodology in an independent way, with ICLEI’s support.