Opinions, ideas and knowledge you can apply to local and regional sustainable development.

Explore this blog to learn from local leaders, municipal staff and experts from around the world.

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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Looking back, moving forward: Financial strategies Daring Cities showcased to help cities fight climate change

Looking back on Daring Cities 2022, the virtual forum jointly hosted by ICLEI and the City of Bonn, one of the key takeaways is that the organizers delivered on their promise to showcase innovative, impactful financial strategies. Strategies designed to free up much needed capital to help finance the tremendous task that lies ahead for 

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Resilience and adaptation at COP27: What we’re expecting (and hoping for)

This blog was written by Dr. Nazmul Huq, Head of Resilient Development, and Matteo Bizzotto, Global Communication Officer at ICLEI World Secretariat When the representatives from the nearly 200 governments and thousands of other actors will gather in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt next month for the UNFCCC COP27, the stakes will be quite high. Expectations 

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Cities responding to the climate emergency through innovative finance, people-centered approaches, and resilience initiatives

This blog was written by Matteo Bizzotto and Sajili Oberoi from the ICLEI Global Communications team. Daring Cities 2022 showed once again that cities and regions are the epicenter of the climate emergency response. With perspectives from every region of the world, we heard loud and clear the following: Now is the time to formalize 

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Talking transformation: Going from unemployed youth living in slum conditions to catalysts for change

“Two huge things need to happen” to have any hope of lifting the world’s most vulnerable out of poverty, while at the same time addressing climate change observed Julian Basking, the Principal Urban Advisor for Cities Alliance. “The first is mass investments in the huge networks of services that are required in cities. And (secondly) 

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Want to accelerate climate action where you live? The @BonnGlobal workshops will help show you how

Yet another reason to get excited about the ICLEI’s Daring Cities 2022, which takes place all next week, is the fact that Bonn is not only serving as host city for this virtual forum, but is also heading up two key workshops tied to accelerating on the ground action in the fight against climate change. 

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Show me (how to get) the money: Daring Cities 2022 spotlights how to procure much-needed funds for climate emergency work

Since its inception in 2020, the focus of Daring Cities has been to catalyze and accelerate local climate emergency action. And certainly with well over 2,000 jurisdictions from around the world having formally declared a climate emergency, there is no shortage of projects that cities are seeking to launch tied to the overarching goals of 

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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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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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