February 2021 - Newsletter | 1
Urban-LEDS II
Newsletter February 2021
Feature story: Successful virtual peer to peer learning for climate action
City in focus: Recife, Brazil: An example of the fight against climate change
Urban champion: The Mayor of Envigado, Colombia
Project synergies: UN-Habitat’s Cities Investment Forum
Highlights
from this issue…
Aerial view of the area Bairro Santo Antonioi, Recife - this editions City in Focus
Name: Accelerating climate action through the
promotion of Urban Low Emission Development
Strategies (Urban-LEDS II)
Start Date: 1/4/2017
End Date: 31/03/2021
Duration: 48 months
Total Budget: 8,000,000 €
Funding mechanism: European Union
(DCI-ENV/2017/384-555)
Consortium: UN-Habitat HQ and regional offices
in Lao PDR, Rwanda and Colombia, ICLEI World
Secretariat and 5 ICLEI regional offices active in
Europe, Bangladesh, Brazil, Colombia, Indonesia,
India, Lao PDR, Rwanda and South Africa
Key Project Facts
2 | February 2021 - Newsletter
Urban LEDS wraps up 2020 with meaningful contributions to local
climate action in three virtual international events
Despite the challenges that followed
the spread of COVID-19 as a global
pandemic, theUrban LEDS IIproject
has made substantial progress and
has led crucial engagements with local
and regional governmentsthroughout
2020. This article highlights three recent
virtual events that the Urban-LEDS
project mange meaningful contributions
to, despite the challenges:
Daring Cities 2020, 7- 28
October, 2020
Hosted by ICLEI World Secretariat and
the Federal City of Bonn,the 3-week
Daring Cities forum included a session
organized by ICLEI Europe and UN-
Habitat titled‘Fair and Sustainable
Energy for All with Integrated Low
Emission Development Planning’ in
partnership with UN-Habitat’s Urban
Pathways project. The event focused
on regulation and governance, lack
of mandates to push for sustainable
planning and the importance of
co-benefits while considering the
synergies between energy planning
and transport. On October 27th, a jury
of financial experts provided guidance
to 8 preselectedTAP(Transformative
Actions Program) and Urban-LEDS
project proposals at‘Test your Pitch’,
a climate finance session.In this
pitching session funders and project
developers met, discussed and tested
ideas. This facilitated process allowed
the sharing of both implicit and
explicit knowledge, which is essential
for improved project preparation,
bankability and access to finance.
Mannheim2020: 9th
European Conference on
Sustainable Cities & Towns,
30th September – 2nd
October, 2020
The Urban-LEDS II project and
ICLEI Europe brought together
representatives from regional and
local governments on October 2ndat
theMannheim2020conference.
The session titled‘Beyond Climate
Emergency: From ambition to
action’consisted of a round of pitches
of exemplary local sustainability
projects, including sustainable mobility
(low-emission bus fleetin Warsaw),
urban resilience (LIFE-IP Urban Klima
2050strategy of the Basque Country),
platform for co-creating new green
products and services (Green Hub
Denmark), and climate change adaptation
in seaside cities (Safe Harbour Cork).
The 2020 theme for LoCS4Africa
Congress –Financing for Change–
aimed at responding to the growing
acknowledgement that to tackle
climate change, city-scale finance
must be mobilized. On the congress
margins,the South African and
Rwandan National Project Advisory
Groups (NPAGs)of the Urban-
LEDS II project met under the
project’sRegional Exchange offering.
Presentations from the South Africa’s
Department of Environment Forestry
and Fisheries and the Rwandan
Environmental Management Authority
presented on their respective climate
change commitments, their Nationally
Determined Contributions, and the
roles of cities.
Urban-LEDS is proud to have kept up
the momentum and supported project
cities and beyond in contextualizing
their efforts and continuing the dialogue
through these innovative events through
2020. The much anticipated Urban-LEDS
international networking seminar event
will take place in May 2021 and will
be an opportunity to draw meaningful
conclusions and chalk out strategies to
keep up the momentum.
Local Climate Solutions
for Africa (LoCS4AFRICA)
Online Congress, 3-12
November, 2020
February 2021 - Newsletter | 3
Bangladesh: New greening plan to revitalise
Rajshahi as climate-responsive sustainable city
This plan will help promote inclusive governance, improve the city’s existing
open spaces, and develop potential new green spaces in a scientific and
eco-friendly manner. Read the full story here
Country News in Brief
Brazil: Fortaleza and Recife launch Local
Action Plans with ambitious climate goals
Fortaleza and Recife improved their climate compliance and
took another step towards building a resilient, low-carbon,
inclusive and innovative city. Read the full story here
India: Second Project Advisory Group
meeting focuses on vertical integration
The second National Project Advisory Group (NPAG) virtual
meeting, on the 18th of September 2020, was attended
by key stakeholders from different institutions working
towards low-emission development and climate resilience.
Read the full story here
Envigado, Colombia
Colombia: LEDS Lab ends current
cycle in Brazil and Colombia
The LEDS Lab initiative is a laboratory for developing and
refining bankable climate projects. The steps followed
by the cities that participated in the project, from an idea
until the implementation of projects, were synthesized in
a Guide to Developing Bankable Climate Action Projects
Read the full story here
Praia de Iracema Fortaleza
Tree species identication survey underway in Rajshahi, Bangladesh
Participants in the virtual Indian Project Advisory Group meeting
4 | February 2021 - Newsletter
Country News in Brief
Building metering in action in KwaDukuza, South Africa
Project synergies: UN-Habitat’s Cities Investment Facility
The CIF is a multi-stakeholder initiative
centered around unlocking greater
capital flows to urban impact projects,
by supporting their processes of
identification, design, (pre)feasibility,
and financing. It complements existing
investment facilities by supporting
financial structuring for investment
at origination and early stage design.
It convenes and prepares a global
pipeline of SDG-compliant bankable
infrastructure projects, and is thus
able to attract the interests of multiple
local and international investors. The
Cities Investment Portal is an online
platform available here, which already
has a number of submitted projects for
investors to browse. We believe the more
exposure city projects can attract, the
better, so this new facility will work with
the Urban-LEDS team to add additional
support to cities identified projects to
Indonesia: Urban-LEDS cities build
capacity on climate nance
Cities participated in a series of webinars on climate finance,
strengthening expertise in green budget tagging and external
climate financing mechanisms to support low-emission
development and climate resilience. Read the full story here
South Africa: Cities demonstrate value
of energy metering for low emissions
development
In all 7 municipalities, a pilot programme is underway to
install meters in municipal buildings and streetlight areas,
train municipal officials on data collection and scale-up
project proposal writing support. Read the full story here
Lao PDR: Cities conduct workshops on
climate risks and vulnerabilities
Consultation workshops were completed for the
development of the LEDS action plans and climate risk and
vulnerability assessment of the project’s’ two satellite cities
– Outhoumphone and Bachieng Chaleunsouk.
Read the full story here
Rwanda: Virtual engagements demonstrate
cities commitments to climate action
Urban-LEDS project sharing has continued via online meetings
in Rwanda and South Africa, including a regional exchange
between the National Project Advisory Groups in each country.
Read the full story here
Urban-LEDS II Regional Exchange, 11 November 2020
Breakout groups discussion on pilot project identication
check their eligibility to be added to
the CIF pipeline at the next available
opportunity. For more information here:
https://www.citiesinvestment.org/
The climate nance webinar was run with GGGI and WWF
February 2021 - Newsletter | 5
Partner in the Urban-LEDS project, the city
works to create measures aiming the expansion
of low-emission development strategies.
The city of Recife, in Brazil’s Northeastern
region, is a seashore state capital, with
its entire population living in urban
areas. Its geographic and demographic
characteristics result in the city being one
of the most vulnerable to the impacts
of climate change in the coming years
because of sea level rise and increasing
number of landslides.
Recife has been the model city of Urban-
LEDS since the first phase of the project
period, where the city has increased its
installed capacity to create and expand
several measures to make low-emission
development as strategic as possible.
With the support of ICLEI, Recife was
the first Brazilian city to declare a climate
emergency.
The initiatives that the city is
implementing are aimed at decreasing
emissions and increasing climate
resilience involving energy efficiency
(“Ilumina Recife”), the regeneration and
expansion of urban parks (“Parque Rio
Capibaribe”), and solar energy capture in
public spaces. Besides, Recife is one of
the four cities in South Americainvolved
in the LEDS Lab project, focusing on
providing technical support and training
so that participating municipalities can
develop financeable climate projects.
Since 2013 in Brazil, Urban-LEDS
project supports cities to develop their
“climate compliance”, a set of laws and
City in focus: The intervention of Urban-LEDS in Recife,
Brazil: An example of the ght against climate change
studies that assist the municipality’
climate governance. The main studies
that the city develops in that process is
an inventory of greenhouse gas (GHG)
emissions (most related to Mitigation);
and a Climate Risk and Vulnerability
Analysis (mostly related to Adaptation).
Both help the city to build a meaningful
Climate Action Plan (CAP), with the
objective and target to reduce emissions.
Recife has already consolidated its
risk analysis and its GHG Emissions
Inventory. With the review of their new
Climate Action Plan the project is soon
coming to an end. The first plan was
made in 2016, during Urban-LEDS I.
The review kicked off in March 2020 and
was launched in December 2020. The
CAP’s main objective is to achieve carbon
neutrality by 2050, in alignment with the
Paris Agreement. Recife’ Secretariat of
Environment and Sustainability, Pelópidas
Silveira Institute (ICPS), the GECLIMA
(Executive Group on Sustainability and
Climate Change), and other secretariats
and members of civil society are involved
in this process.
One of the meetings to include civil
society’ perspective was prepared by
ICLEI South America and supported by
local movements including the city’s
youth voices. This meeting has mobilized
participants aged between 15 and 30
years old for a discussion about the
question: “What is the most important
highlight for a Climate Action Plan for
your city?”. During the discussions young
people defined proposals that could
guide the actions to be added in the
final document of the study, that will be
validated and adapted after the review by
ICLEI and the focal points of the cities.
Recife recognizes the importance of
managing robust data to design and
further implement effective climate
action through its Climate Action Plan,
as done by Fortaleza, Curitiba, Rio de
Janeiro and Porto Alegre.
Read online here
View of the Boa Viagem neighbourhood in Recife
Recife recently engaged local young people to contribute to their local climate action plan development
in a virtual workshop
6 | February 2021 - Newsletter
Urban champion:
Braulio Alonso Espinosa Márquez,
Mayor of Envigado, Colombia
management of urban air quality and
improvement of the environmental
management of the Municipality. All
these initiatives allowed the Municipality,
in association the Universidad Pontificia
Bolivariana, to formulate the Plan for
Mitigation and Adaptation to Climate
Change in 2017. In order to comply with
mitigation actions, it has prioritised the
areas of mobility, waste management,
changing of LED lights, sustainable
farming practices, urban ecozones and
protected areas. The ecozones seek
to reduce emissions of greenhouse
gases and improve the conditions
and indicators of climate change
adaptation, through a process of civic
and environmental culture, education
and awareness that is transversal to the
articulated programming of low-cost and
high-impact interventions.
Each newsletter, we hand over the mic to local government staff in Urban-LEDS cities, so
they can tell you their story of promoting low-emission development in their municipalities
The technical and financial resources
provided by the Urban-LEDS II project
allowed the development of the
Greenhouse Gas Inventory for 2018
and the beginning of the prioritization
of mitigation measures to establish
reduction goals. Additionally, Envigado
was selected to be part of one of the
pilot cities of the LEDS Lab, an ICLEI
South America initiative that aims at
developing a bankable strategy of
alternative energy and energy efficiency
for public facilities. From the vision of
Mayor Braulio Espinosa and in general,
for the city of Envigado, the possibility of
sharing experiences of climate change
is essential, since it recognizes the need
to generate sustainability measures in
the territory that are able to add to the
national and global goals.
Being part of LEDS Lab initiative has
improved the Municipality capacity
in energy efficiency and alternative
energy in public facilities, an innovative
component for the municipality, since
it is included for the first time in the
2020-2023 Development Plan led by
the stewardship of the Mayor Braulio
Espinosa. During the LEDS Lab process,
a methodological proposal for Energy
Efficiency in public facilities was built and
the pilot project is being implemented
in the Secretariat of Environment and
Agricultural Development, which can be
replicated in other public facilities.
During the last ten years of structuring the
climate change program in conjunction
with academia and government
institutions, the Municipality of Envigado
has implemented important actions in
the conservation of protected areas and
the future is bright for further successful
implementation of the climate action plan
under the leadership of the Mayor.
Braulio Espinosa Márquez was born in
the Municipality of Envigado, studied
systems engineering at the Institución
Universitaria de Envigado, where
he began as a student leader, and
later pursued a career in law and a
specialization in public management.
He was councilman of Envigado for two
terms and president of that corporation.
His governmental approach is based
on the union of all political sectors,
education and trust.
Committed to sustainability, the
Municipality of Envigado has worked
on processes related to climate change
for the last ten years, focusing on:
solid waste management, restoration
of regulatory ecosystems, recovery
and conservation of hydrographic
basins, declaration of protected areas,
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The European Commission is not responsible for any use that may be made of the information contained therein.
For more information on the Urban-LEDS project;
Alcade Braulio Espinosa, Envigado © Reproduction Envigado city hall (2) (1)
