The ICLEI World Congress 2021 – 2022, hosted by ICLEI – Local Governments for Sustainability (ICLEI), and the City of Malmö, Sweden, will be held on May 11-13 with the Malmö Summit – an international three-day congress for local and regional governments, urban practitioners, researchers and stakeholders to exchange with and inspire one another on the best practices in local sustainable development.
The Malmö Summit will bring over 100 cities, towns and regions together to showcase leadership in sustainability, adaptation and equity.
“The Malmö Summit will bring to life the motto of Sustainability. Together,” said Frank Cownie, Mayor of Des Moines in Iowa and President of ICLEI’s Global Executive Committee. “We’re pleased to partner with the City of Malmö, Sweden for this World Congress because Malmö is a leading example of what cities are doing right now to co-create innovative sustainable development with equity at the forefront.”
The City of Malmö, a once successful industrial city, has reinvented itself as a dynamic knowledge centre built on cultural diversity, youth and sustainable development. Malmö is working actively for sustainability initiatives and is the first city in Sweden that has publicly announced its commitment to implement the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
“The City of Malmö is honored to host the ICLEI World Congress 2021-2022. This is an opportunity for us to showcase our environmental and socially integrated approach to sustainability and to highlight real-world examples locally, in order to provide other cities with actionable information,”
— Malmö Mayor Katrin Stjernfeldt Jammeh.
ICLEI, a global network of more than 2500 local and regional governments committed to sustainable urban development and active in over 125 countries, holds its World Congress every three years to showcase how local and regional governments are advancing sustainable urban development worldwide. ICLEI experts are working alongside local and regional governments to anticipate and respond to complex challenges, from urbanization and climate change to ecosystem degradation and inequity.
ICLEI drives change within cities along five interconnected pathways towards low-emission, nature-based, equitable, resilient and circular development to create systemic change. By linking sub-national, national and global actors, policies, commitments and initiatives, action is seen at every level.
Program overview
The ICLEI World Congress 2021 – 2022: The Malmö Summit will have three days of events.
- Strategies towards a climate-neutral future: exploring the efforts needed in cities, towns and regions in order to move towards a climate-neutral future;
- Strategies towards resilient and healthy communities in harmony with nature: investigating discussions in building resilience capacity in cities, towns, regions and communities, making them healthy homes both for people and nature;
- Strategies towards equitable and inclusive communities: prioritizing the engagement between human health and sustainable local development.
In order for cities, towns and regions to achieve these objectives, key enablers for action need to be leveraged. The Malmö Summit will give primary attention to two specific enablers: sustainable finance and innovation.
Research Symposium
The Research Symposium, the 6th in ICLEI’s 32-year history, will deepen the dialogue among leading urban sustainability researchers, innovators, local and regional practitioners, political leaders, and scientists, at the interface of research-policy-practice to create actionable knowledge for science-informed decision making to support governments in their transition toward further sustainability.
During the Research Symposium, two important reports and key outcomes from the Innovate4Cities 2021 Conference, a virtual global and regional event that convenes science, innovation, policy, and practice, in order to enable cities to take climate action, will be launched and discussed, as new agendas for cities and climate change science.
Overall, the ICLEI World Congress is a great initiative to work on more urban sustainable development worldwide, while also encouraging cities around the globe to follow the same successful examples such as the city of Malmö. Keep an eye on our website for the latest updates on the ICLEI World Congress as we will report on the outcomes of the Congress.
Editor’s Note: The opinions expressed here by Impakter.com columnists are their own, not those of Impakter.com — In the Featured Photo: ICLEI World Congress. Featured Photo Credit: ICLEI.
