Malmö in the spotlight of sustainable urban action until 2022

It is hosting the ICLEI World Congress 2021-2022

For the next 13 months, anyone interested in how cities are driving sustainable transformation should direct their attention to the Swedish city of Malmö. It will play host to the ongoing ICLEI World Congress 2021-2022, which officially began on 13 April with its Virtual Launch phase, which itself will conclude on 15 April.

All things going well, the planners have announced that next year the culmination of this Congress will be an in-person summit which will be organized in the same city between 11-13 May 2022. Between the launch and the summit, there will be an additional number of high-level events that will give the chance to showcase Malmö and its achievements in sustainable development as a possible model for other cities around the world.

ICLEI also announced its new leadership board

ICLEI, the international federation of local governments that support sustainable development, reported that in conjunction with this major event a new executive board had been elected, which will be led by Frank Cownie, the Mayor of Des Moines (USA). Katrin Stjernfeldt Jammeh, who is the Mayor of Malmö, will assist Mr Cownie as First Vice President of ICLEI.

“ICLEI gives cities and regions a strong voice in the global arena. Through my previous engagements in the organization I have seen first-hand the value in exchanging knowledge and best practices. As first vice president I look forward to promoting and working with different aspects of sustainability, locally as well as globally,” commented Mayor Jammeh on the occasion.

The administration of the Swedish city is hopeful and optimistic that this opportunity will speed up the exchange of ideas on sustainability between municipalities and regions on a global scale. In order to achieve tangible results in our current decade, officials are of the opinion that concerted collective action between governments is needed, rather than piecemeal initiatives, which while laudable and exemplary are insufficient for greater change.

To that end, ICLEI has also adopted two key documents meant to serve as a roadmap and unity of mind and action for member governments of the organization. The first is the ICLEI Malmö Commitment and Strategic Vision 2021-2027, which is accompanied by the ICLEI Malmö Action Plan 2021-2024, featuring 141 concrete actions that cities can take to implement perceptible change in terms of post-COVID recovery and a more resilient environment.