ICLEI WORLD CONGRESS. Towards low carbon and resilient cities: Financing ambitious and bankable climate action
When
Jun 22, 2018
Time
10:30 AM
Where
Montreal, Canada
As the areas in which more than half the global population live and work today, cities are acknowledged as action areas, where solutions to major economic, societal and environmental challenges must be developed and implemented. With the rate of urbanization continuing to increase at a rapid pace, the accelerated demographic change has put many cities under significant strain. Their local governments often struggle to meet the higher demand for energy, water, transportation, health, and education services. When one considers climate change and its impacts on cities, and the impact of using fossil fuels for energy with the associated release of greenhouse gas emissions, accelerated climate planning and action is needed, and the role of local governments strengthened to deal with this new reality. The investment needed to shift to low emission, climate resilient infrastructure is estimated to be around US$ 90 trillion.
This session explored options to access finance to tackle climate change and sustainable development. How can cities secure the capital needed until 2030? What solutions and business models have been successful for local climate action, and why? How can the private and public sector work together to secure this low-carbon, climate resilient transition at the local level? These are among the issues that this session tackled.
Download the World Congress Booklet here
Further recommended reading:
- New calls to cities and investors announced to deliver sustainable finance growth in cities worldwide. Press release of the Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate & Energy (2018)