(L-R) Victorino Aquitania, ICLEI Southeast Asia (SEA) Regional Director, meets with Dato’ Seri Maimunah Mohd Sharif, Mayor of Kuala Lumpur, in a courtesy visit last May 15, 2025 at the Kuala Lumpur City Hall, Malaysia.

The Kuala Lumpur City Hall officially became a member local government of ICLEI in January 2025, becoming the 66th member of ICLEI Southeast Asia (SEA) and the 8th subnational government unit in Malaysia to join the global sustainability network. 

Kuala Lumpur aims to enhance strategies in carbon emissions reduction, waste management, public transportation management, resilience planning, and energy efficiency with ICLEI and its pool of experts, capacity building programs, climate action planning tools and platforms, and knowledge products. 

The City of Kuala Lumpur, the capital of Malaysia serving as its cultural, financial, tourism, political and economic center, is home to a population of 2.1 million (as of 2024). 

Dato’ Seri Maimunah Mohd Sharif currently serves as the mayor of Kuala Lumpur after being elected in August 2024. 

ICLEI SEA representatives met with Kuala Lumpur City Mayor Dato’ Seri Maimunah Mohd Sharif and other representatives of the Kuala Lumpur City Hall in a courtesy visit last May 15, 2025 (L-R): Mohd Yushanizar bin Md Yusoff, Sustainable Development Division Deputy Director of Kuala Lumpur’s City Planning Department; Fauziah Binti Mohamad Ghazali, Deputy Director of the Kuala Lumpur City Hall Mechanical and Electrical Engineering Department; Selamet Daroyni, ICLEI Indonesia Senior Project Officer; Victorino Aquitania, ICLEI SEA Regional Director; Dato’ Seri Maimunah Mohd Sharif, Kuala Lumpur City Mayor; Arif Wibowo, ICLEI Indonesia Country Manager; and Ricardo Marfiga, Jr., ICLEI SEA Membership, Governance, and Circular Economy Manager.

Kuala Lumpur hosted the Green Cities Investment Forum 2024 (GCIF24) in November, which served as the culmination of the Green Cities Action Plan (GCAP) led by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and implemented by a consortium composed of ICLEI South Asia, ICLEI Southeast Asia, and the Indonesia–Malaysia–Thailand Growth Triangle Joint Business Council Malaysia (IMT-GT JBC Malaysia). While Kuala Lumpur was not a GCAP project city, the city supported the forum with Mayor Dato’ Seri Maimunah Mohd Sharif giving an opening address. 

In her message, Mayor Dato’ Seri Maimunah shared Kuala Lumpur’s sustainability direction and emphasized the importance of cities in shaping a sustainable future and the need for forging partnerships that advance carbon-neutral urban growth. 

At GCIF24, Mayor Dato’ Seri Maimunah also shared her vision for Kuala Lumpur as a model city for green growth, as reflected in the Kuala Lumpur Climate Action Plan 2050, which prioritizes enhancing resilience, lowering carbon emissions, and fostering inclusivity. Some of the plans she mentioned include improving waste management and governance, establishing circular economy practices, initiatives to enhance community safety, programs promoting mental health, and community-focused activities like car-free Sundays.

Additionally, the mayor highlighted the Kuala Lumpur City Hall Energy Management Plan 2050, which focuses on energy conservation across 37 buildings, aiming for a cumulative reduction of 180,000 metric tons of carbon emissions over 25 years. Part of this includes the plan to install solar PV systems in government buildings. 

Moreover, Mayor Dato’ Seri Maimunah emphasized the importance of a community-centered approach to urban planning, greening the city through a public-private-people partnership approach, and mentioned the city’s efforts to maintain 110 open spaces and plans to develop 10 additional pocket parks, citing the Kuala Lumpur Botanical Garden as an example of the city’s commitment to fostering both environmental preservation and community well-being. 

Dato’ Seri Maimunah Mohd Sharif, Kuala Lumpur Mayor, delivers the opening address athe Green Cities Investment Forum 2024 last November 26, 2024 at Grand Hyatt Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. (Photo from the Green Cities Investment Forum Facebook page)

Kuala Lumpur’s sustainable development priorities, plans, and strategies are documented in the Kuala Lumpur Structure Plan 2040, Kuala Lumpur SDG Roadmap 2030, Kuala Lumpur SDG Voluntary Local Review 2022, Kuala Lumpur Low Carbon Blueprint Society 2030, Kuala Lumpur Climate Action Plan 2050 and Wangsa Maju Carbon Neutral Growth Centre Action Plan 2050. 

Aside from being an ICLEI member, Kuala Lumpur is also a member of the following local government networks: CityNet, United Cities of Local Government Asia Pacific (UCLG), Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate and Energy (GCoM), and C40. Kuala Lumpur’s participation in these sustainable development networks before its ICLEI membership has led to the city’s involvement in a number of initiatives where ICLEI is also active.  

Kuala Lumpur has been reporting to the CDP-ICLEI track since 2016 as a member of GCoM, C40, and the Race to Zero and Race to Resilience campaigns, based on the CDP-ICLEI dataset on historic review of Cities, States and Regions reporting through CDP-ICLEI Track from 2011 to 2024. The CDP-ICLEI track is the world’s leading climate reporting platform and progress accountability mechanism for cities developed by CDP and ICLEI. 

Kuala Lumpur also hosted ICLEI’s launch of the Cities and Regions Talanoa Dialogues at the 9th World Urban Forum in February 2018. The dialogues were designed as a bottom-up initiative to engage local and regional governments in the Talanoa process, aiming to strengthen Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) and foster multilevel climate action. The dialogues included in-country consultations to connect national, regional, and local governments, as well as other climate actors, to discuss and enhance NDCs.   

ICLEI SEA representatives met with Kuala Lumpur City Mayor Dato’ Seri Maimunah Mohd Sharif and other representatives of the Kuala Lumpur City Hall in a courtesy visit last May 15, 2025.