The city of Freiburg (Germany) hosts ICLEI European Secretariat. A second office is located in Brussels, the political capital of the European Union. The city of Zaragoza (Spain) hosted ICLEI Membership Convention in June 2008)

Busy summer for European ICLEI Members

ICLEI activities in Europe during the summer have started with the ICLEI’s European Membership Convention in Zaragoza (Spain) in June. The event gave the European ICLEI Members the opportunity to discuss about the Local Governments Climate Roadmap “From Bali to Poznan to Copenhagen” which parallels the UN-led negotiations to reduce more ambitiously CO2 emissions within a new post-Kyoto agreement.

Next steps on the Local Governments Climate Roadmap

Within the Local Governments Climate Roadmap, the next events will be the Geneva Climate Roadmap Symposium, taking place on 12 – 14 October in Geneva (Switzerland), and the Local Governments Climate Session in Poznan (Poland) on 9 -11 December. In particularly in Poznan, local governments will present their demands to the Nations for a strong international climate agreement and the recognition of the key role of global governance in climate protection.

European Mobility Week

From 16 to 22 September, a high number of European ICLEI Members participated in the 7th edition of the European Mobility Week, an initiative led by the European Commission. Citizens have been encouraged to think about changing their day-to-day mobility behaviour to cut CO2 emissions, while local authorities to move towards sustainable modes of transport to improve air quality at the local level.

Bicycle Audit Project (BYPAD)

The final BYPAD Conference was held on 18-19 September in Tartu (Estonia), and presented the results of Bicycle Policy Audits and related methods. As a sign of its success, more than 100 cities and regions in 20 European countries have been evaluating and improving their cycling policy through BYPAD, a methodology supported both by ICLEI and the European Commission and which has become a European quality standard in the area.

Biofuels for Transport: Draft Position Paper from ICLEI European Secretariat

Finally, the ICLEI European Secretariat has developed a draft Position Paper on Biofuels for Transport, with the aim of clarifying the position of European ICLEI members on this highly important topic. Members are invited to send their comments by 31 October at ccp@iclei.org.

Learn more about ICLEI activities in Europe

If you want to learn more about ICLEI European Secretariat and its activities in Europe, visit www.iclei-europe.org, or subscribe here to our monthly newsletter.