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.

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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Making school meals healthy for our children and planet

Shifting school meals and schools into a new paradigm to address public health and territorial, social, and environmental resilience: This is the aim of the SchoolFood4Change project. This article was written by Amalia Ochoa, Sustainable Food Systems Coordinator, and Monika Rut, Sustainable Food Systems Officer, at ICLEI Europe. Schools have the potential of being the 

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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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TUMI E-Bus Mission aims to electrify public transit across the Global South

Main photo: [Left to right] Rohan Modi, advisor for Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ); Tu My Tran, Head of Sustainable Mobility, ICLEI World Secretariat; and Philip Turner, Head of Sustainable Development at International Association of Public Transport (UITP), discuss the potential for expanding electric buses through the TUMI E-Bus Mission City Network at the 

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Learning to live with water scarcity

Ingrid Coetzee, Director of Biodiversity, Nature and Health for ICLEI Africa, recently shared her expertise with the international broadcaster Deutsche Welle (DW). Coetzee also spoke at and led several discussions on nature-based solutions at the recent ICLEI World Congress 2021 – 2022 in Malmö, Sweden, including a panel on Planning healthy cities: Planetary and human 

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Yucatán capital Mérida becomes fourth city to join climate insurance program

Photo: Renán Barrera (left), Mayor of Mérida, Mexico, and Edgar Villaseñor Franco, ICLEI Director for Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean (MECS), after signing the letter of intent to join the Urban Infrastructure Insurance Facility project. Mérida, Mexico, capital of the Yucatán Peninsula, became the fourth pilot city to express interest in joining the Urban 

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Putting people at the heart of integrated climate action

Panelists and organizers for “Nothing about us without us: How to engage young people in co-creating sustainability policies?” included (left to right) Olga Krajewska, ICLEI Europe; Fruzsina Vargha, Sfântu-Gheorghe, Romania; Chilando Chitangala, Lusaka, Zambia; Jose Nicolas Arenas, Envigado, Colombia; Vlora Makolli, Together in Association, Sweden; Anne Louise Meincke, Cities4Children Alliance, Denmark; and Coline Blache, ICLEI 

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What does the Malmö Commitment mean to Malmö? Ultimately, a good life for all in a more sustainable world

Photo: Malmö Mayor Katrin Stjernfeldt Jammeh signs the Malmö Commitment on Inclusive & Equitable Communities during the ICLEI World Congress held 11-13 May, 2022 in Malmö, Sweden.  In the wake of the ICLEI World Congress in Malmö which wrapped up on 13 May, a broad cross section of cities and regional governments spanning multiple continents 

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How an Alliance has provided a much needed boost in equity-focused knowledge sharing for industrial cities

Created four years ago as a platform for industrial cities to exchange knowledge and best practices towards a green and just transition, the Urban Transitions Alliance  is formally winding down. And yet, not unlike the proverbial booster rocket falling away after its job of launching a spacecraft into orbit is done, the Alliance has given 

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The Coastal City of the Future

This blog was written by Rasmus Fredriksson, project manager, Environmental Department, City of Malmö Malmö is a coastal city with a 43-kilometer coastline. Proximity to the sea has always been a foundation for Malmö’s development. Historically the city has grown by building new industrial and port areas on land reclaimed from the Öresund, the Baltic 

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