Will the fight against climate change SURGe in 2023?

Since COP27 wound down late last year (November 6-18), much of the post event commentary has centered on the fact that as observed by The Conversation, the gathering “failed to go beyond the 2021 Glasgow climate pact’s promise to phase down unabated coal power (and) announced no new targets or commitments” tied to reducing greenhouse 

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Just Transition: A Necessity for a City’s Sustainable Development

This piece was written with contributions from Next Urban Idea Ltd. and ICLEI KCC, and edited by Matteo Bizzotto and Sajili Oberoi, ICLEI World Secretariat. Photo credit: New Taipei City Government How can the most populated city in Asia be a pioneer of sustainability and climate resilience? Climate crisis is hitting us all on an 

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Saitama Sustainable Cities Summit ~E-KIZUNA Global Summit~

From 22-24 November 2022, Saitama City will host the ‘Saitama Sustainable Cities Summit ~E-KIZUNA Global Summit~’, which brings cities from Japan and around the world together to share and spread various ideas and environmental issues. The point of this summit is ‘Realizing sustainable cities through immediate action’, Saitama hopes that the summit will be an 

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A Cities and Regions Guide to COP27

Everything your city or region needs to know about this year’s global climate event and driving multilevel climate action during and beyond the conference. Want to be a part of the action in Sharm El Sheikh? The Multilevel Action Pavilion is in-person and online! Register today, view the full agenda, and subscribe to the daily 

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How an online platform is providing 6000 cities with data and circular solutions

This blog was originally published on the ICLEI Circulars website and written by ICLEI’s Circular Development team and Circle Economy. After a year of development and piloting, the Circle Lab for Cities program is proud to announce the launch of Ganbatte – the first online platform providing key data insights and proven solutions on circular 

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Eco-School Districts in Kyoto City

Background to the creation of Eco-School Districts (Eco-Gakku) Kyoto City is an inland city located in the center of Japan and has a population of approximately 1.42 million. Kyoto City was the ancient capital of Japan for over 1,200 years, and today, it has become a tourist city, attracting 50 million visitors a year. The 

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Nairobi meetings acknowledge key role of subnational governments in tackling biodiversity loss

Parties to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) advanced a global plan at the fourth Open Ended Working Group (OEWG-4) meeting in Nairobi, Kenya from 21-26 June to bend the curve on biodiversity loss. This Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) is expected to be adopted at the CBD COP 15 in Montreal, Canada – under 

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Strengthening urban food systems in times of crisis

An update interview with ICLEI Global CityFood Program Coordinator Peter Defranceschi Written by Selina Emmanuel and Jiwon Lee of the ICLEI World Secretariat Global Projects Team Since our last interview on the global food crisis and the role of cities, the global food landscape has changed further. The war in Ukraine has amplified many of 

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Sustainable food systems to have strong presence at COP27 in Egypt

The 2021 UN Food Systems Summit stood as a stepping stone for putting food systems at the center of the international policy agenda. Since then, food systems have never had such a prominent role in intergovernmental processes, as it is now widely acknowledged they are tightly intertwined with many global issues – from social inequalities 

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Enhancing local climate action: Moving toward greater and greener resilience 

This blog post was written by Dewi Sari and Kanak Gokarn with contributions from the Resilient Development and Sustainable Energy teams of ICLEI World Secretariat. The ongoing Covid-19 pandemic has brought renewed attention to the close connections between our natural environments, economies, and human well-being. While cities have been contending with the immediate health impacts 

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