Road to Trillions - Actionable Strategies to Close the Urban Climate Finance Gap
November 7, 2024 | 15:00 - 16:30
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Summary
The Cities Climate Finance Leadership Alliance (CCFLA) is the only multi-level and multi-stakeholder coalition aimed at closing the investment gap for urban climate projects worldwide. Launched at the United Nations Secretary-General's Climate Summit in September 2014, CCFLA has successfully provided an efficient platform and convening space, gathering the relevant actors dedicated to urban development, and climate financing, by providing knowledge and understanding to these key stakeholders.
The need for urgent climate action is greater than ever, and the investment needed in low-carbon and resilient infrastructure is still far from enough. Therefore, there is a clear demand to call attention to the challenges and opportunities for cities in accessing climate finance. The 2021 State of Cities Climate Finance Report (SCCFR) was the first endeavour to examine the current state of urban climate finance and became the most important global publication providing a comprehensive estimate of global urban climate finance. It was cited and referred to by key publications, including the IPCC’s Working Groups II and III contribution to the Sixth Assessment Report on Climate Change. This event aims to showcase and discuss the key findings of the new flagship report 2024 State of Cities Climate Finance report by the Cities Climate Finance Leadership Alliance. The report, funded by the German Government (BMZ and BMWK), is the central knowledge resource that examines the current state of urban climate investment, assesses the urban climate finance needs, and provides recommendations on how to close the finance gap. The event will bring together urban climate finance experts to discuss the report’s key recommendations. The event will adopt a panel format.
Launched in summer 2023, the 90+ member Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN) Global Commission for Urban SDG Finance, is co-chaired by Mayors Anne Hidalgo (Paris) and Eduardo Paes (Rio de Janeiro), and SDSN President ,Jeff Sachs. The Commission is harnessing the insights of mayors, urban, climate
and finance experts, city networks leaders, practitioners, and scholars to develop and champion innovative ideas and solutions to reform the Global Financial Architecture (GFA) and increase urban SDG finance. Representatives from the Commission and some of its key partner organizations, OECD, CCFLA, CAF and PwC,
will discuss at WUF 12 such key Commission initiatives and proposals as the creation of a Green Cities Guarantee Fund, supporting contributions related to sub-national and urban finance to inform the IPCC Special Report on Cities and CHAMP, the development of a city project portfolio approach to foster SDG finance, and the alignment with multilateral development bank reforms to include the perspective of cities’ financial needs.
Objectives
Share the key findings of the 2024 State of Cities Climate Finance report, including the latest numbers on urban climate finance flows, urban climate finance needs, and recommendations to close the investment gap.
Discuss recommendations presented in the report focusing on “how” they can be implemented.
Present and discuss concrete proposals and mechanisms to increase cities’ access to urban SDG finance and provide an up-to-date inventory of the collective resources and activities developed by the Commission and
OECD, CCFLA, CAF and PwC.
Highlight the importance of these initiatives to empower cities and ensure that resources become more accessible at the local level by linking them directly to key public and private decision-makers and other stakeholders, transforming the global financial architecture to address local needs.