Pasig City, Philippines demonstrates the benefits of inclusive climate action

Pasig City, in the heart of Metro Manila, is taking an inclusive approach to driving climate action at the local level. Along with eight other Southeast Asian cities, Pasig City is working with ICLEI to develop and deploy bottom-up models of climate action planning through the Ambitious City Promises project. The city has embarked on 

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Resilient Cities Don’t Fear Rainy Days

Lykke Leonardsen is constantly thinking about rainy days… even when it’s sunny outside. But you really can’t blame her. Ever since Copenhagen’s 100-year storm on July 2 of 2011,  which caused major flooding and extensive infrastructure damage, city officials such as Leonardsen, who heads Copenhagen’s program for Resilient and Sustainable City Solutions, have been preoccupied 

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Exploring informal sustainable mobility for East African cities

Motorcycle taxis, known as boda-bodas, are a common sight in East Africa. While they serve as an accessible transport option for many urban residents, they also pose serious safety concerns and management challenges. However, new ideas and technologies have the potential to make boda-bodas a part of sustainable mobility systems in African cities. Boda-bodas operate 

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Biodiversity in cities: How natural asset mapping helps cities protect livelihoods and address climate change impacts

With the release of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) global assessment, it is increasingly clear that biodiversity and natural ecosystems play a crucial role in maintaining the health of the planet, particularly in the face of climate change. The natural environment provides many valuable and free services that contribute directly 

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Want to step up climate action in your city? Invest in your staff

Although they pave the way for national and international financial support, sophisticated emissions inventories are often the domain of the richest and most powerful cities. In other words, strong inventories often come from those with the resources to hire staff or pay third-party consultants to prepare those inventories. This perpetuates a difficult cycle: national and 

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CDP and ICLEI: Introducing streamlined climate reporting

Authors: Maryke van Staden, Director, Bonn Center for Local Climate Action and Reporting at ICLEI and Kyra Appleby, Global Director, Cities, States and Regions at CDP   Providing services for communities, protecting citizens and building better places to live, work and do business are the core priorities of local and regional governments everywhere. Climate action and 

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Stockholm Pursues Climate Holy Grail: a Fossil Fuel-Free Future — Part 5: New Eco-Districts

How virtually all of Stockholm’s clean energy and sustainability measures have been deployed to create two of the city’s most remarkable eco-districts. By John J. Berger, PhD, an energy and environmental policy specialist based in the San Francisco Bay Area.   Hammarby Sjöstad and Stockholm Royal Seaport Stockholm Royal Seaport is known in the city as 

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300+ Policies that promote circular development

According to a recent report of Circle Economy, our world is currently 9% circular, meaning that current production systems rely 91% on extracted resources, most of which end up being discarded as waste, lost to the global economy and degrading the global environment as pollutants. The report further shows that extraction, processing and production globally account 

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An aerial view of water flowing through a dam.

What the Japanese model for circular economy teaches us about building them at scale

The Regional and Circular Ecological Sphere, introduced by the Government of Japan, provides a framework for cities and regions to plan out green, circular economies that work as efficiently as possible. The concept of the circular economy is key for the future of sustainable development. Its core premise is to decouple economic activity from the 

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An aerial view of the Royal Palace in Stockholm

Stockholm pursues climate holy grail: a fossil fuel-free future — Part 4: Transforming transportation

By John J. Berger, PhD, an energy and environmental policy specialist based in the San Francisco Bay Area. To achieve its paramount goal of being fossil-fuel free in 2050, Stockholm will need to eliminate about two million tons of greenhouse gas emissions by then—a drop of over 80 percent. Fortunately, Stockholm’s efforts are occurring in a 

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