ICLEI has been appointed as the BEA Regional Lead in South Asia to act as the lead organization to plan and execute the work plan alongside Nagpur City. ICLEI acts as as a technical advisor and will facilitate stakeholder engagement and events, technical support, city recognition and peer learning. The project will build local capacity that can continue building efficiency activities after direct BEA assistance ends.

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 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 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.

ICLEI supports and promotes regional cooperation and collaboration and facilitates learning across member organizations and Asian countries for the Asia LEDS (Low Emission Development Strategies) Partnership (ALP), a voluntary regional network comprised of organizations and individuals from the public, private, and non-governmental sectors active in designing, promoting, and/or implementing LEDS in Asia. ICLEI assists Asian countries to advance LEDS, green growth strategy and achieve NDC targets. ICLEI offers peer-to-peer knowledge sharing and learning through online sessions and in-person regional peer learning and training workshops; access to resource materials such as issue briefs, case stories, decision tools, and training materials that enable practitioners to champion LEDS; and technical assistance to address specific technical needs and advance LEDS and NDC implementation.

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.

Through collaboration on the OPCC, which is led by WWF, ICLEI aims to encourage the reporting of climate related data from local governments around the globe, and to improve the quality of the reported data.

In partnership with CDP, ICLEI provides CDP and ICLEI’s unified reporting system for the report of the data of OPCC participating cities.

ICLEI supports cities by checking their submitted data and by providing guidance. The OPCC acts as vehicle to raise ambition towards climate action globally, as well as to showcase the commitment from local and regional governments.

Starting in 2019, local and regional governments are – for the first time – reporting climate action data through one unified reporting system. They give their permission to both CDP and ICLEI to use their publicly reported data and receive in return the support of both organizations. ICLEI uses this data to inform research and analysis activities focusing on diverse sectors from transport to waste, energy and air quality, and to represent local and regional governments on the global stage through our advocacy work. ICLEI supports local and regional governments to improve the quality of their reporting and provides performance reports to selected cities.

ICLEI can help raise ambition and connect cities, towns, and regions who are seeking to solve the problems of climate change. The GreenClimateCities (GCC) Program offers cities a proven process methodology for walking step-by-step toward climate neutrality.The GCC program supports local communities on the front lines addressing the challenges and opportunities of urban growth, exploring the potential of green economy and green/blue infrastructure and pursuing a low emission and climate resilient development trajectory. The GCC methodology is a nine step process offering support on assessing climate risks and vulnerabilities and integrating low-to-no emissions development and climate adaptive development) into urban development policies, plans, and processes. It consists of a wide range of resources, tools and guidance notes to support local and regional governments to deliver ambitious local climate action.