“Cities are on the front lines of the climate crisis, experiencing every day the impacts of extreme heat, devastating floods, and rising sea levels. They generate around 75% of greenhouse gas emissions, holding the key to low-carbon, climate-resilient growth across the globe. However, cities in developing countries face a major climate finance gap, lacking access to the funding needed to implement bold climate action.”
These are some of the opening words of the Enhanced Partnership and Call for Funding joint statement signed during COP28 in Dubai (UAE) by the Climate Investment Funds (CIF), the Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate & Energy (GCoM), C40 Cities and the Cities Climate Finance Leadership Alliance (CCFLA). The statement continues by explaining: “With much-needed financing, technical support, and partnerships from Multilateral Development Banks, cities can place the world on the path to a sustainable future. The Climate Investment Funds’ Climate Smart Cities program can help cities contribute to this better future, applying CIF’s proven and successful business model of mobilizing concessional funding for climate action in developing contexts.”
Climate Smart Cities is a forthcoming investment program that will build on CIF’s 15 years of experience in funding climate resilience. With Climate Smart Cities, CIF ambitions to get risky, frontier programs off the ground in partnership with multilateral development banks thanks to concessional finance. CIF could for example support green improvements to new and existing buildings, water supply resilience, sustainable cooling projects, integration of disaster risk reduction in planning, integrated waste management, and sustainable urban development.
The joint statement was signed during COP28’s ‘Key to Green Cities’ event co-hosted by CIF and the Government of Rwanda. As speakers, Minister of Environment Jeanne D’Arc Mujawamariya and Rwanda Green Fund CEO Teddy Mugabo provided much needed perspective. “The triple threat of rapid urbanization, climate change and natural resource depletion poses significant challenges,” said the Minister. “The Government of Rwanda is dedicated to promoting inclusive and sustainable urbanization as a pillar of socio economic and national transformation. [With Kigali Green City], the aim is not merely to address the immediate housing needs of specific target groups, but to set new standards that can reverberate across Rwanda and beyond, guiding us toward a net zero future.” The Honorable Matthew Samuda, Jamaica’s Minister Without Portfolio, Ministry of Economic Growth and Job Creation, also gave remarks during the discussion.
The coalition formed through the joint statement is well placed to meet the challenges ahead. The partners have notably agreed to jointly identify priority sectors and projects for investment in intermediary cities, define avenues for cooperation in the design and implementation of Climate Smart Cities, and develop actions to communicate and call for funding to support innovative climate action in fast-growing cities in developing countries.
The insights and experience of GCoM, C40 cities, and CCFLA will help identify the most innovative and efficient strategies, policies, and instruments to support cities in achieving their climate goals, to be scaled up and replicated globally. These three organizations have been working on analyzing and supporting policies and instruments to unlock subnational climate investment, both on the demand and the supply side, including through recommendations to multilateral development banks, CIF’s implementation partners.
GCOM’s Andy Deacon, C40Cities’ Andrea Fernandez and CCFLA Barbara Buchner participated in the ceremonial signature of the joint statement together with CIF Interim CEO Luis Tineo. “With urban populations around the world growing, intermediary cities in low and middle-income countries are set to expand dramatically and face an immense finance gap to implement their climate ambition,” said Luis in his closing statement. “Concessional finance can be a catalyst, mobilizing a system not only at local and national level, but regionally and internationally. With multilateral development banks, governments, private sector, and non-profits, working together.”