ICLEI at the UN High-Level Week: Local Governments as the ‘Rescue Plan’ for the SDGs and climate

Each year in September, the heart of global diplomacy beats in New York City for the UN General Assembly meetings. This year, Heads of States are additionally expected to renew their commitments on sustainability and climate through the Sustainable Development Goals Summit (16 – 19 September) and the UN Secretary General’s Climate Ambition Summit (20 

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The power of diversity: How local action can deliver on the global goals

This week in New York, heads of state and government have come together at the UN headquarters for two dedicated Summits on climate action and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). As they gather at the highest political level to support and guide the sustainability agenda through the SDGs, political leaders are recognizing that real implementation 

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A Tale of Two Summits: Shaping the next decade of integrated action on climate and sustainability

Delivering ambitious, collaborative climate action is crucial to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals. This September in New York, Heads of State and Government will come together at the UN headquarters for two dedicated Summits on climate action and the SDGs. These Summits will be the key events among a week full of activity – all 

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New report – Multilevel climate action: The path to 1.5 degrees

ICLEI just released Multilevel climate action: The path to 1.5 degrees, our 2018 analysis of data from the carbonn Climate Registry. This post captures the key findings. For more, read the full report here. — The IPCC Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5 °C, released in October 2018, is unequivocal on a few key fronts: first, human activities 

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ICLEI’s take on what to expect in 2018: The year for a reality check

Last year ended with a sense that the momentum on sustainable development is durable. It was a hard blow when the U.S. backed out of the Paris Agreement, but the global and U.S. domestic response was swift and forceful. All in all, 2017 reaffirmed that nations, cities and towns, regions, civil society and the private 

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Building the architecture for global sustainability action: Time for strong coalitions

2016 marked the end of an important period in which nations sought political consensus around the global development agenda. They came to agree that sustainable development should, in fact, be the global agenda for change, consequently adopting major international agreements, like the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda and the Paris Climate Agreement in 2015. The New 

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Letter from Pekka Sauri, Deputy Mayor of Helsinki – March 2017

Dear ICLEI Friends and Colleagues, Cities around the world have a crucial role in the transition to sustainable consumption and production by using sustainable public procurement (SPP) as a key tool. By introducing sustainable criteria in our purchases, local and regional governments are making our societies more sustainable, while at the same time ensuring social 

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The Cities & Regions Pavilion – TAP2015: Making Local Climate Action Visible

In May 2015, cities, local government networks and their partners launched the Transformative Actions Program (TAP), a long-term framework that will accelerate local and regional climate action. A total of 88 cities and regions from 42 countries have submitted over 120 projects to the TAP, signaling the start of longer term institutional capacity building and 

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ICLEI Links: 25 September 2015

Welcome to the latest edition of ICLEI Links, our roundup of sustainability-related news and commentary from around the web! City Stories A report on the new bike sharing system in Seoul – Seoul is revamping and expanding its bike share system, with a new bike design, new terminals, and improved biking infrastructure. The trial period lasts 

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