The Urban Ocean Summit was the first in-person convening of all Urban Ocean cities. The Urban Ocean Summit brought together city officials, representatives from academia, civil society and the private sector to share knowledge, and potential funding opportunities to reduce plastic pollution, build circular economies, address waste management gaps and increase resiliency.

International Network of Cities

Since the Urban Ocean program launched in 2020, twelve cities across Asia and Latin America have joined.

Urban Ocean cities have been addressing plastic pollution through combinations of upstream and downstream interventions, engaging with actors from varied industries and sectors, such as construction and demolition, tech, education, environmental management and the informal waste sector.

Once a city joins the Urban Ocean program, city leaders are supported in identifying possible solutions to address plastic pollution, improve existing waste management systems and strengthen the resiliency of their city. All Urban Ocean cities receive Circularity Assessment Protocols (CAP) to identify gaps in existing waste management systems and opportunities to move closer to circular economies.

In addition to gaining insights from the CAP, workshops are facilitated to bring together multi-sectoral collaborators to identify opportunities. The products from the identification of gaps and opportunities result in studies, waste management profiles and project statements to advance prioritized projects.

Urban Ocean Summit 

All 12 Urban Ocean cities convened in Chennai, India from June 18 – 20, 2024. During the first half of the Urban Ocean Summit, city leaders connected to learn from one another and met experts in circularity, greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, resilience and the informal waste sector.

The second half of the Summit provided city leaders with opportunities to present findings and solutions for their cities to potential funders and collaborators, to advance projects on the ground that reduce plastic pollution and improve waste management to increase cities’ resilience.

The invite-only event had over 60 attendees that represented NGOs, government agencies, international financial institutions, private sector, and academia from across the globe. Following the Summit, the Urban Ocean program will continue supporting cities’ efforts to advance circular economies and increase their resilience. You can see the Summit’s agenda here.

If you would like to hear more about the Summit or would like to collaborate, please reach out to Daniel S. Padilla Ochoa, Project Director for Urban Ocean, [email protected]

Urban Ocean Summit Sponsor

Partners

About Urban Ocean 

Urban Ocean is a capacity-building and accelerator program to end ocean plastic pollution and build more resilient communities in cities. Urban Ocean champions circular economy principles, builds awareness of ocean plastic, assesses waste management systems and supports cities to develop projects that address the interrelated challenges of ocean plastics and resilience. Since 2019, the program has been jointly implemented in 12 cities by Resilient Cities Network, Ocean Conservancy and The Circulate Initiative.