ICLEI East Asia serves as the Secretariat of EACAC, providing a long-term cooperation platform for East Asian cities committed to tackling air pollution through city-to-city exchange and collaboration.
The main activities of EACAC include: 1) (co)organizing forums, workshops and study trips for capacity building; 2) facilitating participants' engagement; 3) compiling case studies on East Asian cities’ air quality management; and 4) mobilizing resources for future development of the program and its member cities.
Under EACAC, ICLEI East Asia has provided the seed funding of the research project “Green Lung” in Ulaanbaatar (2017-2019), which promotes urban greening as a means to improve air quality in the city. ICLEI East Asia has also supported the Beijing Bureau of Ecology and Environment in strengthening its capacity on international cooperation (2018-2019), and deliver a bilateral research between Beijing and Seoul (2019-), focusing on the comparison of the two cities’ policies on the replacement of outdated boilers, vehicle control, fugitive dust management and seasonal control measures.

ICLEI is helping to develop a Sustainable Urban Development framework in South Asia. The framework is to be based on UNEP’s Environmental, Social and Economic Sustainability framework, addressing the recently adopted Sustainable Development Goals, through actions developed on the basis of the framework. The goal of the framework is to adopt an integrated approach where the principles of a socially inclusive, economically viable, resilience and environmentally sound growth, drive all decisions and actions (governance, policies, strategies, technologies, infrastructure, planning, community involvement etc.) and result in sustained and resilient economic development in the region.

ICLEI East Asia has works with SHRDC to conduct annual training programs to support local officials from ICLEI Member and other cities in Asia in strengthening their efforts to achieve sustainable and low emission urban development.

In 2019, two training programs were organized – one solely dedicated to Chinese Cities who participated in the 2019 International Forum on Air Quality Improvement jointly organized by the Seoul Metropolitan Government and ICLEI. And the other one for Southeast Asian Cities via the Ambitious City Promises project. Each program was designed to focus on policies that can be applied per the participating cities’ local context, considering their general socio-economic development and cooperation with the private sector and citizens. Through the policy presentations, site visits and group discussions, the participants were able to gain the latest insight on climate change mitigation and adaptation, energy transition, transportation, waste management, and citizen-led governance.

As a take-away of the training, participants presented their drafted action plans, combining learnings from the week-long training and their daily tasks.

ICLEI is implementing the BEA project Phase 2 in Africa through three initiatives.
1. BEA Africa Regional Network: ICLEI Africa coordinates the Africa Regional Network for BEA where organisations working across Africa on issues of building efficiency share lessons, current practices, and coordinate their work. Through this network, organisations are able to connect and align their efforts to ensure cities across Africa are well-supported to improve building efficiency. ICLEI is actively recruiting cities and private sector partners to be members of the BEA Partnership.
2. BEA Deep Dive in City of Tshwane, South Africa: ICLEI Africa, in partnership with the Green Building Council of South Africa, is implementing one of eight global BEA Deep Dive engagements in the City of Tshwane, South Africa.
3. Leadership Grant: Audit and training of implementtion of South Africa’s national building efficiency legisation in three municipalities in KwaZulu Natal, South Africa

The Building Energy Efficiency Accelerator (BEA) assists sub-national governments in speeding up the process of adoption of best-practice policies and implementation of building efficiency projects, with the goal of doubling the rate of energy efficiency improvement in the building sector by 2030.

ICLEI is the regional lead for all activities in Southeast Asia.The BEA process of engagement in a city includes support for: Assessing and prioritizing locally-appropriate policies and actions; Implementing actions, through matching needs with expertise, resources and tools; Tracking action and documenting progress, and sharing lessons learned. BEA engages cities through a menu of policy options and key actions based on needs, and activities the partnership can provide in each location. Cities prioritize policies and activities, and the partnership connect them to resources and engagement around those priorities.

ICLEI is the Local Building Efficiency Accelerator Lead Partner, taking responsibility to plan and execute the work plan, to coordinate participating cities and stakeholders, and to facilitate the engagement among business and local governments in East Asia.

ICLEI maintains a long-lasting relationship with participating cities and partners by building an active and easy-to-reach communication channel, provides technical assistance to support cities in applying for international funding, and assists cities to develop commitment and form a feasible work plan.

Through the Building Efficiency Accelerator, local governments in China and Mongolia have ICLEI as a reliable partner to inquire about practical information for policy design and planning, to have access to international funding opportunities for project implementation and replication, and to strengthen the relationship with non-governmental stakeholders. The Building Efficiency Accelerator and ICLEI support local governments to cross the institutional, financial, and behavioral barriers.

In order to take accurate actions against climate change, it is fundamental to know the exact data. ICLEI developed and maintains an online suite of emissions management tools packaged together in an application known as ClearPath. The software is based on the Greenhouse Gas emissions protocols and allows cities in North American cities to calculate, forecast, plan, and monitor emissions under all community and local government operations protocols.

ICLEI will lead the implementation of activities in Germany with 10 local governments and 1 region and work on the dissemination and exploitation of the projects results. Aline to this, workshops for local and regional authorities at a national level will be organized, project’s communication activities will be established and informational events in participating countries will be run. The aim is to capitalize on the project outputs, trigger and facilitate planning for carbon neutrality at a local and regional level more widely across Europe and encourage the replication of exemplar sustainable energy and climate resilient projects.

ICLEI offers a comprehensive approach and tools to support ICLEI member cities towards low emission development policies, with collective trainings or personalized support in South America.

ICLEI supports and promotes regional cooperation and collaboration and facilitates learning across member organizations and Asian countries for the Asia LEDS (Low Emission Development Strategies) Partnership (ALP), a voluntary regional network comprised of organizations and individuals from the public, private, and non-governmental sectors active in designing, promoting, and/or implementing LEDS in Asia. ICLEI assists Asian countries to advance LEDS, green growth strategy and achieve NDC targets. ICLEI offers peer-to-peer knowledge sharing and learning through online sessions and in-person regional peer learning and training workshops; access to resource materials such as issue briefs, case stories, decision tools, and training materials that enable practitioners to champion LEDS; and technical assistance to address specific technical needs and advance LEDS and NDC implementation.