Four Southeast Asian cities, including two ICLEI members, have been named among the 50 global finalists in the 2025 Bloomberg Philanthropies Mayors Challenge, a competition that supports ambitious ideas to improve cities and their residents’ lives, specifically along the themes of sustainability, health, jobs, and basic services. 

These finalists from the region include ICLEI member cities Pasig and Naga from the Philippines, as well as Cauayan City, Philippines and Surabaya City, Indonesia. 

From over 600 applications worldwide, Pasig, Naga, Cauayan, and Surabaya stood out for ideas grounded in real community needs. 

Pasig City was recognized for its goal of transforming underused waterways into floating parks hosting services such as recreation, health clinics, and libraries. Naga is developing an AI- and citizen-powered early warning system for extreme rains and floods.  

Meanwhile, Cauayan City is creating a dengue early warning system, and Surabaya City is aiming to shift its citizens from single-use diapers to locally-produced and environment-friendly cloth diapers. 

Each finalist city will receive a USD 50,000 grant to test and refine their ideas, with expert support over the coming months. The top 25 cities will be announced in early 2026, each to be awarded USD 1-million and long-term technical assistance to further improve and implement their innovations. 

The Bloomberg Mayors Challenge has already helped 38 cities worldwide implement their sustainability ideas, with successful models replicated in more than 330 cities to date. 

ICLEI Southeast Asia has actively supported Pasig and Naga for sustainability efforts along the themes of multi-stakeholder low emission development and youth urban safety and security, among others.