The United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDDR) has been promoting Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) as well as the ‘Making Cities Resilient’ Campaign (MCR) with the aim of strengthening the capacity of cities and local governments in DRR and the implementation of the Sendai Framework for Action.
ICLEI Africa was appointed to provide technical assistance to 50 local government from Sub-Saharan Africa to carry out self-assessments at the local level in order to support implementation of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030.
Beneficiary cities were selected based on specific criteria including level of risks, demand and interest shown, involvement of other partners and the level of institutional capacity to assess and address disaster risks, as well as prior experience and participation in the making Cities Resilient Campaign and other factors. The project targeted issues related to the development and implementation of risk-informed local development plans, with direct relation to increased capacity to deal with the topic and monitoring for improved public services to communities.

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 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.

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.

ICLEI initiated this partnership to attract the attention of ambitious local governments in South Korea and give them a platform to share their efforts and accomplishments on the targets of Goal 11.

ICLEI is gathering the efforts of Local Governments in South Korea on implementing SDGs and delivering related projects to leverage the effectiveness of the dispersed efforts and actions by combining and reporting them on the UN SDGs Knowledge Platform. By focusing this initiative on Goal 11, ICLEI provides the map of the implementation of Goal 11 in South Korea, and highlights leading local governments to inspire others to join.

ICLEI is the Technical Support Group enlisted to assist 21 local Biodiversity Management Committees to produce their People’s Biodiversity Register, a repository of local knowledge on Biodiversity.

Through a set of 31 pre-formulated formats, information is collected on various aspects of biodiversity relevant in the local context. This is supplemented through photo documentation and in some cases video documentation. The register is confidential and cannot be shared outside of the main stakeholders at the local level, such as the Goa Biodiversity Board, the Biodiversity Management Committee and the National Biodiversity Authority.

ICLEI advances achievement of state and local sustainability goals by assisting California cities and counties to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and save energy. The support is offered to any local government free of charge, and can be a light-touch (answering questions) to in-depth assistance (completion of an GHG inventory).

In addition to technical support, the program convenes an annual peer-exchange event, offers virtual training, and recognizes communities that hit milestones in clean energy and climate action. ICLEI’s GHG emissions management tool, ClearPath, has been adapted to meet California specific requirements and opportunities. The program makes the software tool available at no cost to all local governments statewide; provides technical support in the development of GHG inventories and climate action plans, and shares out best practices observed.

This project will support regional governments with existing GHG reduction targets to achieve their targets, and for the ones without targets, the project will help governments to set and achieve them through the improved capacity to track GHG emission levels in detail – as well as the impacts of mitigation actions. ICLEI is supporting in the development of multi- governance policy and strategy dialogues. By supporting state and regional MRV systems and aligning them with their national counterparts, this project will promote the uptake of the 2006 IPCC Guidelines for National Greenhouse Gas Inventories (and their 2019 refinement) across states and regions globally with several subsequent benefits such as the increased consistency between different levels of governments, enhanced links between regional data sup- pliers and national data compilers and further identification of large and additional emission reduction opportunities.

In the past, we had primarily two ways of addressing global problems: nation-states and global corporations. The City Climate Cup propose a third, complementary way of addressing global problems: through networks of cities and the mobilization of civil society. City Climate Cup would produce novel solutions to global problems, and encourage their implementation and the learning of cities from each other. We propose to measure and benchmark sustainability progress, celebrate achievements and organize the sharing of good practices.

ICLEI is a Founding Signatory of the City Climate Cup initiative and aims to engage with cities to both encourage participation and highlight achievements through its available channels of communication in order to advocate for urban climate leaders to take the sherpa role for its peers.

This activity is designed to encourage citizen participation through the use of apps and other measuring methods in support of its city climate goal in low emission development.

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.