Challenges and opportunities for urban climate finance

Climate Finance: Cities play a central role in climate protection and adaptation to climate change. A recent study by GIZ focuses on improving the financing options urban climate action worldwide.

Global mitigation and adaptation efforts have to be geared up in order to reach the climate goal stipulated in the Paris Agreement and to limit the negative impacts of climate change on human and natural systems. Cities and metropolitan areas have large – and still growing – potential for mitigation and adaptation. On the one hand, cities account for a lion’s share of greenhouse gas emissions. On the other hand, they are highly vulnerable to the potential impacts of climate change – a situation that is further exacerbated by urbanisation.

Lack or inaccessibility of funding is widely perceived as a major bottleneck for concerted climate action, not least in cities. While a large infrastructure financing gap is already apparent today, the need for significant financial resources to take proactive climate action will, at least in the short run, further widen the gap. This aspect is also crucial when exploring the potential of cities to make a major contribution to global decarbonisation processes in the aftermath of the Paris Conference in December 2015.

The study “Challenges and Opportunities for Urban Climate Finance” looks at the status quo, challenges and opportunities for urban climate finance in general and provides detailed overviews of urban climate finance in three case study cities (eThekwini, South Africa; Santiago, Chile; and Chennai, India). The three selected cities for the case studies are part of the global project “Cities Fit for Climate Change” which is implemented by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH on behalf of the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Building and Nuclear Saftey (BMUB).

The project supports innovative solutions for urban planning and makes cities fit for climate change. The intention is to make tackling climate change an integrated and strategic element of urban development. Plans, programmes and strategies and the associated investments are being made more resilient and adaptable to current and future impacts of climate change.

Climate Finance is the topic of the IKEM Conference 2018 which takes places 15 March 2018.

IKEM Conference
Thursday, 15 March 2018
13.00-19:30
Magazinstraße 15-16, 10179 Berlin

Contact:
Simon Schäfer-Stradowsky
Magazinstraße 15-16 , D-10179 Berlin
Tel. +49 (0)30 40 81 87 010
simon.schaefer-stradowsky@ikem.de

More Information:

IKEM conference 2018: Link

GIZ Study: Link

GIZ project website: Link

GIZ project video: Link

 

 

 

Contact

Dr Simon Schäfer-StradowskyQuelle: IKEM/Jule Halsinger

IKEM – Institute for Climate Protection, Energy and Mobility e.V.