Experts to discuss and define cities' role in the green economy

A panel of 20 international experts representing diverse disciplines, including ICLEI President David Cadman and Secretary General Konrad Otto-Zimmermann, is meeting on 11-12 May to define and discuss the elements of a green urban economy.

Urbanization is advancing rapidly. Towns and cities are now the locus of almost four fifths of global GDP. Their share in global resource consumption and CO2 emissions is of a similar order.

Cities thus play a leading role in the transformation from consumptive to eco-efficient societies – in short, to a “green economy”.

Meeting in the run-up to the Rio+20 summit, the experts will come up with proposals and recommendations on how to shape the “Green Economy Transformation” at local (urban) level.

Representatives from ICLEI Member Cities Makati, Philippines and Capetown, South Africa are present at the meeting.

The outcomes will be fed actively into the Rio+20 process and presented at a session on linking resilience to green urban economy at the Resilient Cities congress happening on 13-15 May.

The expert forum is convened by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), the City of Bonn, in collaboration with ICLEI.

Find out more by visiting Bonn Perspectives website.