ICCA2019 Initiatives

Who: Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate & Energy (GCoM)

Key objectives:

• Vertically integrated National Determined Contribution (NDC) investment plans will allow all levels of government to more effectively identify opportunities for interventions at the appropriate level, leading to efficient allocation of national and international resources and attract public and private investors.
• The Call to Action to National Governments, in particular Ministers of Finance, as well as to private investors, seeks to achieve the following:

1. Promote the participation of sub-national governments in the formulation of Multilateral Development Bank (MDB) country engagement strategies;
2. Develop vertically integrated NDCs and support the development of climate action
3. plans with projects and investment opportunities in NDC investment plans;
4. Scale up direct sub-sovereign access to large scale development financing for urban NDC investment projects;
5. Capitalize credit enhancement instruments and independent project preparation to promote the flow of capital to city governments and local authorities;
6. Put in place a monitoring system and where needed robust regulatory frameworks governing sub-national borrowing and creditworthiness;
7. Develop technical and regulatory support;
8. Support cities revenue generating measures

• Potential Flagship Projects and Initiatives in Support of the Call to Action include for example the flagship demonstration on financing zero emission public transportation fleets and alternative mobility measures in the unique historic centers of Latin American Cities.

Who: Ellen MacArthur Foundation, ARUP

Key objectives:

• The project is a suite of easily accessible resources, which provide a global reference on the topic of circular economy in cities. Its modules have been developed to respond to the growing interest in circular economy from city governments and mayors, and will offer insights to many other urban stakeholders, including urban citizens.
• The project contains modules on the vision of three key urban systems (buildings, mobility, products systems), factsheets, policy levers to embed circular economy principles and to enable the transition, city led case studies, and networks and resources.

For further information about the initiative, please click here.

Who: European Investment Bank (EIB)

Key objectives:

• The European Investment Bank supports climate action in cities through investment loans, intermediated lending, equity funds and other financial instruments.
• The EIB has established a solid record in supporting subnational entities, with almost EUR 150 billion of urban lending since 2011, of which 44 billion are for climate action.
• Over the same period, EIB’s total climate finance was almost EUR 130 billion, contributing to over EUR 600 billion of climate action investment.
• By 2020, when the implementation of the Climate Strategy is completed, all EIB activities will be Paris-aligned.

Who: Adelphi, Forum Sustainable Investments, Climate Alliance

Key objectives:

• The objective is to encourage divestment from programs that are harmful to the environment and reinvestment in climate-friendly initiatives.
• The project explores the potential for municipal divestment, facilitates constructive dialogue between interested cities, experts and further actors and supports municipal divestment and re-investment efforts.
• Eleven German cities have implemented the idea in order to achieve specific Sustainable Development Goals.
• Divestment and sustainably reinvestment are scalable from private household to nation states.
• Project value: Approx. EUR 500,000

For further information about the initiative, please click here (website in German).

Who: Ministry of the Environment, Climate Protection and the Energy Sector Baden-Württemberg

Key objectives:

• 249 municipalities, cities and districts have joined the agreement to reinforce their commitment to climate mitigation.
• With the first update of the pact, numerous options for action and assistance have been defined and funds have been increased to EUR 16 million.

For further information about the initiative, please click here (website in German).

Who: Ministry for the Environment, Climate Protection and the Energy Sector Baden-Württemberg

Key objectives:

• The objective is to contribute to the target of realizing a climate-neutral building sector by 2050.
• The CO₂ reduction program supports municipalities, churches and associations in measures such as energy renovation and heat generation from renewable energies. Moreover, it includes training and information measures to raise awareness.

For further information about the initiative, please click here (website in German).

Who: Ministry for the Environment, Climate Protection and the Energy Sector Baden-Württemberg

Key objectives:

• The program will support investments, which reduce greenhouse gas emissions in municipalities participating in the European Energy Award (EEA). This also includes measures that raise awareness of local climate protection, stimulate changes in behavior or support CO₂-reducing investments by third parties.
• Participating actors are drawn from all levels of the public and private sector as well as civil society.
• The funding scheme can be easily replicated and scaled up with financial means.

For further information about the initiative, please click here (website in German).

Who: EBRD

Key objectives:

• EBRD Green Cities combine strategic planning, technical assistance and donor support with EBRD finance to help cities invest in priority climate change infrastructure projects.
• The Framework’s key tool is a Green City Action Plan (GCAP), which helps municipal authorities and key urban stakeholders identify, benchmark, prioritize and guide green city actions. The GCAP focuses on iterative stakeholder collaboration to identify an indicative investment plan a city can pursue in the medium term to achieve its visions for green city development.
• The program is open to all of the EBRD’s countries of operations, with 25 cities currently being part of the program, all using the GCAP as the framework for scaling up their climate efforts.
• Project value: financed over EUR 350 million, mobilized over EUR 1 billion in finance.

For further information about the initiative, please click here.

Who: The Climate Group, Under2 Coalition, Governor’s Climate and Forest Task Force (GCF), Norway’s International Climate and Forest Initiative (NICFI)

Key objectives:

• The project will help regions with land use, land use change and forestry challenges to set up systems to monitor, report and verify (MRV) greenhouse gas emissions and to develop long-term decarbonization strategies.
• States and regions in Peru, Brazil, Mexico, Colombia, Ecuador, Indonesia and India receive targeted capacity building assistance.
• Results are shared among members of the Under2Coalition.
• Project value: NOK 49,767,093

For further information about the initiative, please click here.

Who: The European Covenant of Mayors Office is managed by a consortium of networks of local and regional authorities, led by Energy Cities and Climate Alliance, composed of CEMR, EUROCITIES, Fedarene, and ICLEI Europe, on behalf of the European Commission’s Directorate General (DG) Energy and DG Climate Action

Key objectives:

• Signatories endorse a shared vision for 2050: accelerating the decarbonization of their territories, strengthening their capacity to adapt to unavoidable climate change impacts, and allowing their citizens to access secure, sustainable and affordable energy.
• The initiative has now gathered more than 7,000 local and regional authorities all across Europe drawing on the strengths of a multi-stakeholder movement and the technical and methodological support offered by a dedicated office.
• This unique bottom-up movement leverages multi-level collaboration and its replicability has been proven with the extension and adaptation to other world regions leading to the launch of the Global Covenant of Mayors in 2016.

For further information about the initiative, please click here.

Who: European Network for Community-led Climate Change and Sustainability Initiatives (ECOLISE) in collaboration with various national partner organizations.

Key objectives:

• The European Day of Sustainable Communities seeks to promote, connect and celebrate how local communities are taking action on sustainability and climate change across Europe. It is organized as a multi-level collaboration.
• This collaboration enhances visibility and understanding of community initiatives at higher scales and reminds participating communities they are part of a wider movement of international and global significance.
• In addition to being an excellent example of action towards the Sustainable Development Goal 17 (SDG 17 – to strengthen the means of implementation and revitalize the global partnership for sustainable development), participating and showcased initiatives as well as all of the events are working in ways that directly contribute to multiple SDGs.
• The design is replicable and scalable with increases in numbers of participating countries and initiatives. Networks of community-led initiatives in other continents are looking into replication, perhaps leading to collaboration on a global event.

For further information about the initiative, please click here.

Who: ICLEI – Local Governments for Sustainability

Key objectives:

• The goal of the initiative is to advance dialogue and collaboration between local and regional governments with UNFCCC delegations.
• A core objective is to develop additional concepts and ideas to facilitate the manifestation of paragraph 15 of the Paris Agreement on multilevel action.
• The initiative collaborates with similar networks and initiatives such as Friends of Cities at the UN Headquarters, following the implementation of 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, or those evolving at other Conventions as well as UN Assemblies on Environment and Habitat.
• It complements and supports efforts of the NDC Partnership as well as the legacy of the ICCA Heidelberg Partnership Declaration on Collaborative Climate Action (PDCCA).

For further information about the initiative, please click here.

Who: The Climate Group, Under2 Coalition, International Climate Initiative (IKI) of the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conversation and Nuclear Safety (BMU)

Key objectives:

• The project supports subnational governments in parts of Mexico, India, Brazil and South Africa to set up and operate systems for monitoring, reporting, and verification (MRV) of greenhouse gas emissions.
• The Under2Coalition network disseminates lessons learned between states and regions globally.
• Project value: EUR 3,499,979

For further information about the initiative, please click here.

Who: Transition Hub Groups in partnership with Transition Network

Key objectives:

• The objective is to create a clear framework for how grassroots initiatives and local or regional governments can create sustainable change together.
• The project mapped collaborative experiences around the world, developed a systemic instrument for collaboration and reflexive governance, tested in six pilot regions between 2018 and 2019.
• It was launched by the Transition Movement with research supported by the Lisbon University and Dutch Research Institute for Transitions, funded by KR Foundation.
• The framework allows to map and measure collective transformative action and is expected to bring institutional and cultural change by providing a ‘learning arena’.
• A new phase is being launched, with pioneer municipalities starting in 2020.

For further information about the initiative, please click here.

Who: Zukunftswerkstatt Lausitz (Ideas for the Lusatia of Tomorrow), IFOK – A Cadmus Company

Key objectives:

• The project addresses substantial structural change related to the coal exit debate and the need for economically sustainable concepts on the future of this coal-mining region.
• It brings together diverse perspectives and ideas through dialogue, events, meetings with target groups or presentations at the Lusatia-Expo.
• The project increases multi-level collaboration across different levels of government – such as states, districts, and municipalities – and with local multipliers.
• It recognizes that the economic and ecological benefits of a transition away from coal cannot be addressed without addressing its social impacts and benefits.
• It offers valuable insights on the process of shaping a shared vision for the future of coal-mining regions, insights, which can be transferred to other regions in the process of transition.

For further information about the initiative, please click here.

Who: EU funded project under the Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme comprising various stakeholders

Key objectives:

• The C-Track 50 project strives to mobilize and guide public authorities at local and regional level in defining long-term policy priorities, promote multi-level governance and support them in developing, financing and implementing sustainable energy and climate policy action plans, with the overall aim to achieve climate resilience and carbon neutrality by 2050.
• In this framework, the project supports 105 municipalities in eleven European countries with the development of long-term energy and climate plans and financing projects.

For further information about the initiative, please click here.

Who: EIT Climate KIC (Knowledge and Innovation Community)

Key objectives:

• The Re-Industrialise programme will support public authorities, development agencies and companies within energy and resource-intensive European industrial regions in the planning, development and roll-out of their transition towards a low-carbon economy.
• The objective of this initiative is to catalyze the transition of two European carbon intensive industrial regions: Silesia, Poland and North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany.
• The transformation pathways will specifically aim at maximizing economic, environmental and social opportunities.

For further information about the initiative, please click here.

Who: CCFLA Secretariat – Climate Policy Initiative (CPI), Global Fund for Cities Development (FMDV), German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMU)

Key objectives:

• The Cities Climate Finance Leadership Alliance is a multi-stakeholder initiative that fosters cooperation, exchange and continuous dialogue on subnational climate finance.
• The core objectives are to:

1. Unlock finance for achieving sustainable climate-friendly and resilient development at the subnational level.
2. Provide convening space, gathering all relevant actors dedicated to urban development, climate action, and financing.
3. Capture and strengthen the synergies among members and beyond, with a view to aggregate and amplify global efforts.
4. Advocate an urban perspective in climate policies and narratives through publications, forums, and workshops.
5. Setting up and supporting member driven working groups on specific topics (e.g. project preparation) with regular meetings, activities and work plans.

For further information about the initiative, please click here.

Who: Youth and Women for Opportunities Uganda-YWOU

Key objectives:

• The project contributes to the eradication of poverty, food insecurity and waste management.
• Its mission is to plant fruit trees for healthier populations and better environment while at the same time safeguarding the environment by adopting sustainable agricultural practices and appropriate technologies.
• The project aims to contribute to addressing people’s and especially the youth’s needs for IGA, fuelwood, timber, fruit, and fodder and other non-timber forest products while halting and reversing the forest loss and related environmental degradation in the community through promoting vegetables, fruit tree planting/growing, and solid waste management.
• Project value: EUR 550,000

Who: Europa-Universität Viadrina Frankfurt (Oder) and Climate Alliance

Key objectives:

• The aim of SCORE is to facilitate co-ownership of renewable energy for consumers in three pilot regions in Italy, Czech Republic and Poland.

• SCORE supports local authorities in enabling their citizens to become PROsumers by applying Consumer Stock Ownership Plans – an inclusive financing technique focusing on vulnerable groups such as low-income households and women.
• SCORE also supports various follower cities to adopt the financial model tailored to their needs.
• Project value: EUR 1,988,625

For further information about the initiative, please click here.

Who: Climate Reality Europe was founded by Nobel Laureate and former US Vice President Al Gore

Key objectives:

• The Climate Reality Project is a global network of more than 19.000 activists in 150 countries: cultural leaders, organizers, scientists, and storytellers committed to building a sustainable future together and collaborating at all levels.
• Programs such as “100% Committed” aim at supporting the Paris Agreement goals. Activists collaborate with cities, communities, businesses, and universities to help them to transition to 100 percent renewable electricity. The “100% Committed” program is open to all interested partners.

For further information about the initiative, please click here.

Who: European Institute of Technology Climate Knowledge Innovation Community (EIT Climate-KIC)

Key objectives:

• In its first cycle in 2018, the City Finance Lab supported five initiatives led by the cities of Paris and Lisbon, Kommunalbanken Norway (municipal lending agency), the Polish energy conservation agency and the UK-based Community Forest Trust.

• In 2018, each pilot financing solution received between EUR 20,000 and EUR 70,000 of in-kind support.
• In order to support these demand-led initiatives, the CFL engaged a broad spectrum of stakeholders within the Climate-KIC community and stimulates knowledge sharing and capacity building.
• Between 2019 and 2021, the CLF will scale and replicate its activities in Europe and abroad.

• The activities will contribute to the stimulation of financial market investments in the urban transition and foster green bankable assets in cities.

For further information about the initiative, please click here.

Who: German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Protection, and Nuclear Safety (BMU), IFOK – A Cadmus Company

Key objectives:

• The Transatlantic Climate Bridge (TCB) serves as a platform for dialogue on climate and energy topics between diverse stakeholders in the United States, Canada and Germany. It seeks to foster opportunities for exchange on common challenges, innovative approaches and best practices and to spark new partnerships and initiatives that help accelerate climate action.
• The project fosters exchange and collaboration, these include conferences, delegation exchanges, peer-to-peer exchanges and town hall meetings.
• Such international exchanges on lessons learned are critical to ensuring that replicable models for climate action can be tested and adapted in new contexts.

For further information about the initiative, please click here.

Who: Institute for Global Environmental Strategies (IGES)

Key objectives:

• The project seeks to enhance local and/or regional governments’ (LRGs) ability to disseminate information and findings globally, and to do so more smoothly.
• It does so by serving as an online-centralized information hub for Sustainable Development Goals reporting by sub-national and local governments. In this way, local governments can use VLR Lab as an open space for peer learning.
• VLR can be used to break a silo of climate action and SDG implementation by integrating Locally Determined Contributions in the SDG reporting.
• The project already gathers five cities and seven partner organizations.

For further information about the initiative, please click here.