INSIDE STORY: Treading low-carbon pathways toward sustainability – the experience of Bogor City

Introduction

Since 2013, the Urban Low Emission Development Strategies (Urban-LEDS) project has offered Bogor City an opportunity to integrate low-carbon strategies not just in the transport sector but in its local development plans, supporting the city’s vision of adopting sustainability to transform Bogor into a more liveable city.

The project introduced ICLEI’s GreenClimateCities framework, using the analyse–act–accelerate model to offer customised guidance to Bogor City. Within 2.5 years of continuous engagement and capacity building, and numerous exchange visits with other participating countries, Bogor City’s low-carbon plan has been developed and is now ready to move towards implementation.

This Inside Story* describes:

• How the way was ‘paved’ for Bogor’s low carbon development pathway;
• the challenges and enabling factors; and
• the implications for decision-makers and practitioners elsewhere.

*download the full text from the right-hand column or via the link provided under further resources. The Key Messages are provided below.

Key Messages

• The Urban-LEDS project highlights the importance of combined efforts by technical departments and local chief executives in moving from planning to implementation.

• The completion of Bogor City’s greenhouse gas emissions inventory allowed the city government to prioritise low-carbon options and identify concrete implementable projects such as pedestrianisation and streetlight retrofitting.

• Embedding LEDS considerations into long-term development plans can allow a local government to allocate funds for LEDS-related activities as evidenced by Bogor City’s experience. The Urban-LEDS project integrated LEDS when formulating the city’s regional medium-term plan resulting in a commitment of financial support for LEDS activities from the city budget.

• Projects should be examined from a macro perspective and not implemented in isolation. It is important for implementers to conduct an intervention mapping in consultation with the city government in order to maximise linkages and synergies, and align projects with long-term development plans to ensure sustainability and ownership.

• There is value in networking. South–South–North exchanges enriched Bogor City’s experience of integrating LEDS in its own development plans by looking at how developed European cities did it and simultaneously learning along with other emerging secondary cities under the Urban-LEDS project.