Jan 12, 2021
Many of the world’s biggest cities suffered severe social and economic damage from COVID-19. In response, national governments, development finance institutions and the private sector have announced USD $1.1 trillion in subsidies to cities. But how can we ensure that money is spent on a green and climate-smart recovery?
This question is tackled in a new policy brief from the Cities Climate Finance Leadership Alliance (CCFLA). CIF is a member of the Alliance’s steering committee. The brief analyses the funding arrangements so far for cities’ recoveries and identifies key trends. It then makes a series of recommendations for how cities and their funders can exploit opportunities to jointly promote a green urban recovery.
These recommendations include:
- Structuring financial instruments to enable cities to access them directly.
- Working with local and/or climate-specific institutions to develop appropriate mechanisms and project portfolios.
- Working with project preparation facilities to support the investment readiness of projects chosen by cities.
- Working through existing networks to facilitate effective exchange of knowledge and experience.
CIF and CCFLA: a shared urban vision
The Alliance is a coalition of leaders committed to deploying finance for city-level climate action at scale by 2030. It provides a platform to convene and exchange knowledge between relevant actors focusing on urban development, climate action, and/or financing. CIF is actively involved in this activity, and shares its own learnings and experience from its urban-focused work, including CIF's Climate-Smart Urbanization Program.
This partnership with CCFLA provides an opportunity for CIF to help in scaling-up finance support to accelerate implementation of ambitious and transformative investments and policy actions for cities to transition to low-carbon and climate-resilient urbanization pathways. Through the CCFLA platform, CIF aims to share its work on collaborating with countries and cities in identifying solutions to reduce barriers to urban climate action and promote its new program on climate-smart urban development.
Read the policy brief here
Read about CIF’s Climate-Smart Urbanization Program here
