ICLEI – Local Governments for Sustainability is a global network of over 2,500 local and regional governments committed to sustainable urban development. Active in over 125 countries, we influence sustainability policies and drive local action for zero-carbon, nature-based, equitable, resilient, and circular development.
Our network and team of specialists work together, offering access to knowledge, partnerships and training to generate systemic changes for urban sustainability.
ICLEI South America connects its more than 150 member governments in 8 countries to this global movement. In 2018, to continue building strong support relationships with its members, the Regional Secretariat opened two National Coordination Offices, in Colombia and Argentina, respectively. The office in Colombia is hosted by the Metropolitan Area of the Aburrá Valley (AMVA); and in Argentina, it is hosted by the city of Rosario. In 2020, the ICLEI Brazil Office was established, based in São Paulo, with the same approach of supporting the largest member base in South America, which today brings together 95 Brazilian subnational governments. In order to strengthen the agenda and to be closer to strategic regions in the country, ICLEI Brazil inaugurated, in 2021, the work of the Subnational Offices in Pernambuco, Minas Gerais, and the Southern Region.
Over these years, ICLEI South America has excelled in developing and implementing projects on the themes of: Climate and Low Carbon Development, Resilience, Solid Waste, Sustainable Public Procurement, Urban Biodiversity, among others.
ICLEI was founded in 1990 by 200 local governments from 43 countries, who met at the first World Congress of Local Governments for a Sustainable Future at the United Nations headquarters in New York. Our operations began in 1991, with the World Secretariat in Toronto, Canada.
Our first global programmes were Local Agenda 21, a programme promoting participatory governance and local sustainable development planning, and Cities for Climate Protection™ (CCP), the world’s first and largest programme supporting cities in climate action planning. ICLEI’s programmes evolved from working solely on environmental aspects to embracing broader sustainability issues. The ICLEI Council recognised this and formally broadened the association’s mandate in 2003, when it was renamed ICLEI – Local Governments for Sustainability.
ICLEI has been active in Latin America since 1994. The first office for Latin America and the Caribbean was established in Santiago, Chile, in June 1996, and the first Regional Secretariat was based in Rio de Janeiro in October 2000. The city of Buenos Aires was chosen as the headquarters of the Latin American and Caribbean Secretariat between 2006 and 2010, during which time a Project Office was also established in Brazil, in São Paulo. In 2011, the current Secretariat for South America was established in São Paulo, Brazil.
Still in 2011, a new model for our activities in the region was approved, with twoSecretariats, the Secretariat for South America, currently led by the ICLEI office in São Paulo, Brazil, and the Secretariat for Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean (MECS), led by the ICLEI office team in Mexico.
ICLEI specialists are working alongside local and regional governments to anticipate and respond to complex challenges, from urbanisation and climate change to ecosystem degradation and inequality. We invest in the capacity and knowledge needed to design solutions for these challenges and make decisions informed by data, scientific evidence, and local contexts.
ICLEI leads the way in knowledge exchange and sparks city-to-city and city-to-region connections around the world. Peer-to-peer exchange and capacity building are at the centre of what we do.
On a national and global scale, we influence policies that reflect the interests of local and regional governments and apply global policies to sustainable urban development strategies at the sub-national level.
We form strategic alliances with international organisations, national governments, academic and financial institutions, civil society and the private sector. We create space for innovation and lead our partners to build new ways of supporting sustainable development at an urban scale.
At the subnational level, ICLEI drives change along five interconnected pathways that cut across sectors and jurisdictional boundaries. This vision enables local and regional governments to think holistically and adopt an integrated approach to sustainable urban development.
The ICLEI team and subnational government representatives work collaboratively at a municipal or regional level to identify challenges and take success factors to the next level. Through this joint action, we foster long-term and broader thinking on sustainable urban development.
A project or initiative can be guided by a specific pathway, such as resilient development. Our team explores the connection points with other pathways to foster systemic change – for example, by looking at where equity intersects with resilience, or where nature-based solutions can contribute.
On an urban scale, these pathways balance human life patterns, the built environment, and natural systems in and around our cities. This changes individual communities and, through collective action, creates a multiplier effect that drives sustainable development at national, regional, and global levels. These pathways embody the goals and values set out in the global sustainability agenda and are a means of achieving progress at all levels.
These paths are part of ICLEI's 2024-2030 Strategic Vision and Commitment, and guide the network to optimise solutions that consider the interconnections of urban systems, creating more resilient and sustainable cities.
The zero-emission development pathway slows climate change, creates new economic opportunities, and improves the health of human and natural systems.
Through this path, local and regional governments reduce environmentally harmful pollutants and greenhouse gas emissions from heating, cooling, lighting, and food systems, and reduce noise. They cut greenhouse gas emissions across all activities, particularly in transport, waste, and construction. They aim for carbon-neutral infrastructure and operations by mid-century, and usher in an era of renewable energy by divesting from fossil fuels, committing to 100% renewable energy and using nature-based solutions. They foster sustainable passenger and freight mobility, prioritise clean fuel policies and electric vehicles powered by renewable energy, and opt for people-centred mobility solutions.
Nature-based development pathways protect and enhance urban biodiversity and ecosystems, which underpin key aspects of local economies and the well-being and resilience of our communities.
Through this path, local and regional governments prioritise healthy local environments, in which air, water, soil and all the natural resources that sustain life and health are protected and nurtured. They implement strategies and plans that unlock nature's potential to provide essential services and new economic opportunities. They apply nature-based solutions, use blue and green infrastructure and promote green zones.
The circular development pathway and new production and consumption models build sustainable societies that use recyclable, shareable, and replenishable resources to end the linear model of producing, consuming, and discarding.
Through this pathway, local and regional governments decouple urban and economic development from resource consumption and embed environmental and social costs into the price of goods and services. They encourage equitable access to resources and create closed-loop urban and peri-urban systems. They support new local economies that are productive rather than extractive, where resources are exchanged rather than wasted. Local and regional governments prioritise sustainable waste management and work with the business sector from initial engagement through to the delivery of solutions that support local sustainability goals and meet the needs of all citizens. They use the power of procurement for green economies.
A resilient development pathway anticipates, prevents, absorbs and recovers from shocks and stresses, especially those brought about by rapid technological, environmental, social and demographic changes, and to improve the essential structures of basic responses.
Through this pathway, local and regional governments make resilience an essential part of municipal strategies and prepare for new risks and impacts, taking into account the rights and needs of vulnerable sectors of society. They continuously strengthen essential systems, alleviating the burden on people and the environment. They pursue a transparent and inclusive approach that improves trust in institutions and the processes that support them.
Equitable, people-centred development builds fairer, more liveable, and inclusive urban communities and combats poverty.
Through this path, local and regional governments seek processes and standards that support inclusive development for all and that safeguard the natural systems that support human life. They ensure that the natural and built environment in and around cities improves liveability and safety, promotes human health and mitigates disease. They seek safe access to food, water, energy and sanitation for all, and clean air and soil. They create and maintain human-centred, safe, socially and culturally cohesive communities, where diversity and distinct identities are woven into the social fabric.
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