On 21 March, as part of the Kaohsiung Smart City Summit & Expo (20–22 March)—a key international platform for advancing smart city development—ICLEI and Kaohsiung City co-organized the second edition of the CityCOP High-Level Forum. The event featured the official signing ceremony of an agreement formalizing the Kaohsiung-ICLEI Climate Neutral and Smart Cities Community of Practice (ComP).
The ComP is designed to build a powerful cohort of 15 leading cities, towns, provinces, and subnational states from East Asia and the Asia-Pacific regions. Over the next two years (2025–2026), participating cities will actively collaborate to accelerate climate neutrality and smart city solutions, with Kaohsiung City serving as Chair of the ComP.
Speaking at the event, Charles Lin, Deputy Mayor of Kaohsiung City, emphasized the city’s commitment to driving a net-zero transition. “Kaohsiung is the largest industrial hub in Taiwan. This is a huge burden but, at the same time, an opportunity to catalyze the transition toward climate neutrality. We are making things happen,” he stated.
His remarks reflected Kaohsiung’s vision of achieving climate neutrality by 2050 through innovative policies and smart city strategies. He highlighted key initiatives such as the Kaohsiung City Net Zero City Development Autonomy Ordinance, the Industrial Net Zero Alliance, and the Net-Zero Academy, which has already trained over 4,500 professionals, including city officials with international certifications.
Gino Van Begin, ICLEI Secretary General, highlighted that ICLEI is honored to be part of this initiative. “Under the leadership of Mayor Chen Chi-Mai, this Community of Practice stands as a premier platform for knowledge exchange and action,” he said. He emphasized ICLEI’s commitment to facilitating regional and international collaboration between cities through tailored capacity-sharing, peer learning, and international recognition of best practices.
“Who can be better placed to learn from each other, than those who jointly lead similar but differentiated local policy actions, in different locations, for different residents, but in response to the same global crises, than the leaders and officials of similar cities?”, stated Mr Van Begin.
The Forum gathered representatives and expert speakers from 16 cities across 10 countries to discuss climate action strategies and urban carbon reduction practices. The signing ceremony was attended by key figures, including Diana Ürge-Vorsatz, Vice Chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and Chair of the Urban Research and Innovation Portfolio for the ICLEI Global Executive Committee, as well as Tze-Luen Lin, Deputy Director of the Office of Energy and Carbon Reduction, Executive Yuan.
The signing ceremony took place following the first in-person thematic workshop series of the ComP, held on March 18–19 at the Net Zero Academy. This workshop marked the first time that potential ComP cities—including Yokohama and Kyoto (Japan), Batangas and Iloilo (Philippines), Newcastle (Australia), and Goyang City (Republic of Korea)—gathered in person alongside the host city, Kaohsiung.
With this agreement, ICLEI and Kaohsiung City kickstart the Community of Practice, driving the co-creation of next-generation climate solutions through targeted strategies in circular economy, energy transition, sustainable urban planning, resilient mobility systems, and innovative finance mechanisms.
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