2025 Local Leaders Climate Awards / Healthy Cities, Strong Communities
Winners: Healthy Cities, Strong Communities
Elevating air quality, green space, and everyday well-being
Sofia and Barcarena were announced as winners of the 2025 Bloomberg Philanthropies Local Leaders Climate Awards on November 4, 2025 at the COP30 Local Leaders Forum in Rio de Janeiro.
WINNER: SOFIA
Sofia’s Climate Leap for Cleaner Air, Healthier Lives, Greener Future
Sofia’s Climate City Contract is an integrated urban transformation framework setting an ambitious target of over 80% GHG emissions reduction by 2030 and full neutrality by 2050. In 2025, Sofia received the prestigious EU Mission Label, acknowledging the city’s readiness to deliver on its commitments under the EU Mission for 100 Climate-Neutral and Smart Cities. The CCC focuses on public health and environmental justice through low-emission zones, replacement of polluting heating devices, expansion of green infrastructure, and large-scale building renovation.
WINNER: BARCARENA
Barcarena Food System: Sustainable Development and Food Security
The Barcarena Food System, coordinated by the Department of Agriculture, connects public policies that value and strengthen local production based on agroforestry systems combining organic and native production of açaí, cocoa, and bananas. The system purchases directly from family farming with municipal resources to serve students, families, and patients in Education, Social Assistance, and Health networks. This promotes food and nutritional security while preserving food culture, combating hunger, and developing sustainable agriculture that generates income to eradicate poverty. From a resilience perspective, family farming provides a sustainable economic model promoting greater food supply with social inclusion, income generation, and environmental conservation.
FINALIST: PARIS
Paris Respire: reimagining mobility and public space for clean air
Paris set bold air quality targets in 2018, strengthened by a 2022 Air Quality Action Plan built on deepening scientific knowledge, cutting emissions at source, and empowering citizens. The city continues to reimagine mobility and public space through transforming streets, lowering speed limits, promoting clean vehicles, and banning older polluting cars. Results show NO₂ levels dropped by 45% and PM2.5 by 35% since 2010, with fewer than 50 Parisians now exposed to European threshold exceedances compared to over 700,000 in 2018. Through rigorous monitoring and open reporting, Paris demonstrates that determination, science, and citizen engagement can deliver cleaner air and inspire cities worldwide.
FINALIST: FORTALEZA
The Urban Microparks of Fortaleza Project
The Urban Microparks of Fortaleza Project transforms degraded public areas into small, naturalized parks promoting green infrastructure, social inclusion, and community life in territories with high climate and social vulnerability. Coordinated by the Municipal Department of Urbanism and Environment and financed by the World Bank, the project has upgraded 14 spaces across 11 neighborhoods, restoring over 44,000 m² and benefiting more than 160,000 people. With primary focus on early childhood, microparks were designed following Urban95 guidelines ensuring safe, accessible, and stimulating environments for children. The initiative directly contributes to addressing urban climate change by mitigating heat islands and improving local microclimate, with expansion planned to 15 microparks by 2028.
2025 Local Leaders Climate Awards
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COP30 Local Leaders Forum
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil