Policy & advocacy

ICLEI connects ambitious local and regional governments with leading peers, national  governments, as well as the European Commission and related institutions, the United Nations (UN), business, academia, finance and NGOs. By doing so, they can learn and advance at a quicker pace.

ICLEI represents local and regional governments in European and global policy processes. We work with the European institutions and other networks to influence and shape the debate on urban sustainability policies and legislation and ensure that project financing is formulated to address sustainability challenges, and is accessible to cities, regions and public authorities.

Working with partners to influence change

 

As an organisation, ICLEI is involved in a number of processes and initiatives with local and regional sustainability governance. Below are key pieces of advocacy work at ICLEI and their broader impacts in the sustainability field.

Those working for a city are often approached to join initiatives or to become signatories of Commitments, Declarations and Messages in the area of sustainable development. You may ask yourself, “why are these important and why should my city participate?”

As a global network of politically strong cities, towns and regions, ICLEI and its Members have the opportunity to shape the debate and profile their cities at a European and international levels.

Learn about how your city can take advantage of these European and global initiatives to support your work locally.

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Communications Biodiversity & NBS

Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework

2020

In 2021, the Secretariat of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) relased its first draft of the post 2020 Global Biodiversity Framework, meant to guide global action on preservation of nature and its essential services through the year 2030. The framework includes 21 targets and 10 milestones to outline an ambitious plan towards a transformation of the societal relationships with nature. This transformation builds upon a theory of change, meaning that taking action on the above-mentioned targets will help to reduce threats to biodiversity. These actions are meant to be accomplished among a wide range of organisations, from the local to global level, in particular with inputs from NGO's, indigenous communities, women, youth, and with support of the finance community. ICLEI is an organistion is committed towards its contributions to the post 2020 Global Biodiversity framework and partners with many organistions in its network towards these aims.

ICLEI – Local Governments for Sustainability is contributing to the Action Platform, housed by CitiesWithNature and partnered with over 200 cities globally. The CitiesWithNature Action Platform is aligned with the 2030 Action Targets in the post-2020 global biodiversity framework, and makes it easy for cities to share their commitments, set their own targets, track their progress, and see how their actions compare with other cities in their country, and globally. It also helps cities gather information on how they contribute to their countries’ National Biodiversity Strategies and Action Plans, and can support national reporting to the UN CBD.

Learn more about the post 2020 Global Biodiversity Framework here. Learn more about CitiesWithNature here.

Project website

Since its founding, ICLEI has been one of Europe's primary advocates for local sustainable development. Through its European Sustainable Cities and Towns conferences and a series of initiatives and documents housed on the European Sustainable Cities Platform, it has mobilised thousands of local governments in Europe and beyond in the name of sustainability. There have been some key milestones on this journey:

Driving the European movement for local sustainable development

 

The Aalborg Charter

The 1994 Charter marked a turning point for local sustainable development in Europe. Inspired by the Rio Earth Summit’s Local Agenda 21, it was developed by individuals, municipalities, NGOs, national & international organisations, and scientific bodies.

 

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The Aalborg Commitments

The Aalborg Commitments (10 years after the Aalborg Charter) encompass a list of qualitative objectives organised into 10 holistic themes providing a local level framework for embedding sustainability across municipality sectors.

 

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The Basque Declaration

The Basque Declaration was the main outcome of the 8th European Sustainable Cities & Towns Conference in 2016. It outlines 15 pathways to localise the 17 SDGs for socio-economic, cultural and technological transformation for a more liveable, sustainable and inclusive Europe.

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The Mannheim Message

The Mannheim Message was launched at the 9th European Sustainable Cities & Towns Conference in 2020. It outlines five core systemic changes and nine policy shifts needed to bring about transformation for a sustainable Europe.

 

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Guidance Documents

Position papers

Letters and Statements

Contact

To connect with ICLEI Europe on advocacy, please contact Goksen Sahin Licha.