For better or worse, the year ahead brings a mix of reforms, political shifts and global milestones that will shape how urban sustainability agendas are governed and delivered. Here’s what local and regional governments should be on the lookout for this year.
As co-focal point of the Local Authorities Major Group, ICLEI ensures cities’ and regions’ voices are represented in the UNEA process, with subnationals calling for stronger synergies with the Rio Conventions and other Multilateral Environmental Agreements.
Brazil’s pioneering multilevel coordination effort is reshaping multilevel governance and collaboration at home and inspiring global pathways. From the beginning, the intention of this group was to bring climate federalism to life: National, state, and local actors aligning positions, sharing knowledge, and building a unified narrative that could travel from the streets of Brazilian cities to the negotiation rooms of the UNFCCC.
Mostly not. And that’s an issue, since one of the drivers of success for COP30 could be how well the NDCs 3.0 reflect and enable climate action in cities.
Born from the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, these three multilateral environmental agreements have shaped how the international community approaches global environmental challenges.
Every year, the Bonn Climate Talks – formally the sessions of the UNFCCC Subsidiary Bodies (SBs) – serve as the mid-year checkpoint on the road to the annual COP. With over 6,000 national delegates and civil society representatives expected, the SB62 (16-26 June 2025) is far from routine.
On 19 May 2025, ICLEI South America virtually promoted the second Meeting of the National Coordination Group of the Local…
On 13 March 2025, Greater Sydney hosted one of the first Town Hall COPs for 2025 – part of a growing global effort to place local priorities at the center of national and international climate decision-making.
As we begin a pivotal year, many global north countries are facing elections and leadership changes, testing the world’s commitment to sustainable development. Last year, we witnessed several key global processes needing to continue into 2025 – like the biodiversity negotiations and the Plastics Treaty – or delivering a disappointing lack of ambition, such as the climate COP. Here are the ten things we’re watching for in 2025 regarding the global sustainability agendas.
Read our insights from the UN Convention on Combating Desertification COP16 – and the Mayors Forum – held in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, from 2-12 December.
Throughout 2024, Daring Cities spotlighted the Town Hall COPs initiative as an innovative mechanism linking local climate emergency action to national and global efforts. How do the Town Hall COPs fit into the current global climate arena? We brought this discussion to COP29.
In recent years, more and more local and regional government leaders are traveling to international environmental conferences, like the annual Climate COPs or the ICLEI World Congress. These meetings provide the opportunity to discuss solutions to global and local challenges. But at the same time, the concrete value of elected leaders’ engagement can at times be difficult to grasp. What is the value for such in-person meetings? How does the community back home benefit?