Leadership for Urban Climate Investment (LUCI)

LUCI is the framework for concrete project-level collaboration between champion initiatives of CCFLA members.

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LUCI initiatives have made significant strides in supporting cities for impact

targets to
reach by 2025
currently 2000

Cities with enhanced project preparation capacity.

1248 1000

Climate smart and resilient bankable projects.

899 1000

Projects linked to finance for implementation.

335 100

Innovative financing mechanisms to support climate smart infrastructure in cities.

39

About LUCI

The Leadership for Urban Climate Investment (LUCI) is a platform for coordination and concrete collaboration between CCFLA champion initiatives, helping them implement bold and effective urban climate finance targets. LUCI enables these ambitious targets by catalyzing action along the entire pipeline of subnational climate finance from project conception through financing. Hosted by CCFLA, LUCI was initiated by a multi-stakeholder coalition led by the German Federal Government at the United Nations Secretary General Climate Summit in 2019.

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LUCI initiatives are committed to ambitious targets along the entire value chain of subnational climate finance from project conception through financing.

LUCI initiatives have a world presence, supporting urban climate project preparation across the globe.

Case Studies: LUCI Initiatives are Driving Impact on the Ground

Subnational Climate Finance

Mexico

Distributed generation (DG) solar projects can help Mexico reduce its reliance on fossil fuels and avoid emissions. They are smaller and less regulated, with a threshold of 500 kilowatts – enough to power about 200 households.

The aim is to support and scale up the renewable energy platform to develop, install and operate solar PV assets to offer clean energy to the C&I clients that currently have a reduced number of options for their electricity supply.

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Green, Affordable Housing Finance

Africa and Asia

Demographic trends in Africa and Asia necessitate massive investment in affordable homes for the hundreds of millions people living in sub-standard housing.

Well-built, energy- and water-efficient housing can help marginalized communities adapt to climate-linked disasters, including extreme heat, flooding, drought, and tropical cyclones, while secure tenure and low energy bills provide a route to long-term financial independence and resilience.

However, a chronic lack of finance for developers and prospective homeowners constrains the construction of climate-smart affordable homes at the scale required to address these challenges.

Green Affordable Housing Finance deploys construction and mortgage loan guarantees alongside targeted enabling interventions to foster a locally driven and self-sustaining affordable housing finance ecosystem.

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UrbanShift

Sierra Leone, Africa

UrbanShift city Freetown, capital of Sierra Leone, launched its first Climate Action Plan.

The hope is that through this strategy plants the seed that allows the city to grow and learn from
each other in the fight against climate change. This Climate Action Plan is meant to be a living tool that all the residents of the city use regularly. It is not meant as a document that sits on a shelf.

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CICLIA

Sub-Saharan Africa

CICLIA supports more than 35 cities in sub-Saharan Africa in the preparation of low-carbon and resilient urban strategies and projects.

The project aims to strengthen the urban resilience of the N’danu, Salongo and Abattoir neighborhoods, which are subject to flooding and health risks, and to support adaptation to climate change through better urban governance and shared management of essential urban services (pre-collection of household waste, maintenance of riverbanks, roads and adjacent drains), which will result in the social structuring of the neighborhoods and a strengthened link with the Kinshasa authorities.

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Solar Energy on a Deactivated Landfill and Bus Stations

City of Curitiba, Brazil

The landfill solar PV system is the first of its kind in Latin America and will pave the way for decentralized generation of solar energy by municipalities throughout Brazil. The project is expected to generate up to 8 MW, with the potential to upscale.

The C40 Cities Finance Facility (CFF) supported the city of Curitiba to prepare the Curitiba More Energy project. It entails the installation of Solar Photovoltaic (PV) on a deactivated landfill and bus stations. By incentivizing the generation and use of clean energy, the project increases the municipality’s renewable energy portfolio and decreases GHG emissions.

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The City Climate Finance Gap Fund: Early-Stage Project Support Podgorica, Montenegro

Montenegro

The new Gap Fund, one central initiative of LUCI, is the first global fund dedicated to supporting cities in the very early stages of project development, with an aim to unlock EUR 4 billion of investment off a target EUR 100 million budget. In Podgorica, The Gap Fund is supporting the city in mapping relevant public buildings to help identify which ones could be suitable for green roofs combined with facades to improve energy efficiency in buildings and increase the permeability of surfaces in public spaces. Cities can apply directly for early-stage project support or learn more through networks like GCoM, C40, and ICLEI. 

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C40 Cities Finance Facility – Preparing Investment-Ready Projects in Jakarta, Indonesia

Indonesia

The C40 City Finance Facility (CFF) supports cities through  technical assistance to develop cities’ sustainability priorities into bankable investment proposals, in collaboration with C40 Cities and GIZ. In Jakarta, the CFF is supporting the city to implement an operational trial fleet of 100 e-buses in the network of TransJakarta, which will contribute to Jakarta’s target of promoting public transport mode share to 60% as well as to 100% electrify TransJakarta’s fleet in 2030.

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ICLEI TAP - Palmas Solar Program

Brazil

To improve its solar power capacity, the city of Palmas in Brazil adopted a strategy and in 2015 launched the Palmas Solar Program. Reaffirming the city’s commitment to sustainable development, the program offers tax incentives for households and businesses to install photovoltaic panels and become small-scale energy producers. Through this program, the city expects to maximize the share of renewables in the energy mix and become a national leader in installed solar capacity by 2022.

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ICLEI TAP - Increasing Access to Sustainable Public Services

Doumé

Doumé is taking measures to tackle climate change by increasing sustainable access to water and electricity. Launched in 2019, the Doumé “Access to Sustainable Public Services” project has managed to obtain support from the European Union funded Covenant of Mayors Sub Saharan Africa (CoM-SSA) III project that will help the local government to develop the necessary pre- feasibility studies.

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CDIA - Flood Control, Environmental Improvement, and Water Reclamation Works in Pu’er

Pu'er City, China

The CDIA project preparation study aimed to rehabilitate the Simao River and keep Pu’er City protected from flooding.

Following the approval of the city application, CDIA deployed a consulting team in Pu’er from January to June 2012. Taking off from the conceptual design approved by the municipal government, the CDIA consultants prepared a final design for Simao river rehabilitation.

The ecological and green development approach recommended by CDIA in 2012 has been recognized as a key strategy towards achieving sustainable river rehabilitation and creating a healthy and liveable environment for the 60,000 people directly affected by the project.

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LUCI initiatives

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