CCFLA at the World Urban Forum 2024
Cities Climate Finance Leadership Alliance experts will be hosting and presenting at several events at the World Urban Forum 2024 in Cairo, Egypt.
All times below are in EGY
Events Organized by CCFLA
Project Preparation Facilities Enhancing Collaboration to Strengthen the Preparation of Urban Climate Infrastructure
Tuesday, November 5; 15:00-16:30
Multipurpose room 17
Co-hosted by: CCFLA and the Cities Development Initiative for Asia (CDIA)
Substantial investments in urban climate infrastructure are essential to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the climate targets under the Paris Agreement. However, the current urban climate infrastructure investment is way below the required level. Closing the tremendous gap requires the effective channelling of climate finance from the national and international levels to the local level where project preparation and implementation takes place. In reality, however, local authorities and other project partners often lack the financial and technical capacity to prepare structured projects on their own. Numerous projects face hurdles in securing finance due to factors such as insufficient project viability, inadequate project development, and revenue uncertainty, among others. That is why project preparation facilities (PPFs) can serve as the “missing link” that can provide critical support for cities in preparing “investment-ready” projects that meet investors’ requirements and priorities.
This event aims to show how PPFs unlock urban climate finance by showcasing successful projects prepared with PPF support, highlighting the importance of project preparation, and the need for collaboration between PPFs and financiers to scale the number of investment-ready projects. In addition, the event will provide insights into how cities can capitalize on PPFs and successfully work with them through case studies from cities that have moved their infrastructure projects from concept design to actual implementation with support from PPFs.
Road to Trillions – Actionable Strategies to Close the Urban Climate Finance Gap
Thursday, November 7; 15:00-16:30
Multipurpose Room D
Co-hosted by: CCFLA, Penn IUR, BMWK, BMZ
With the demand for urgent climate action growing, the investment required for low-carbon, resilient infrastructure remains insufficient. It’s critical to spotlight the challenges that cities face in accessing climate finance, whilst also spotlighting the innovative solutions being pioneered by diverse actors to support cities in mitigating their emissions and building resilience to the impacts of climate change.
This event, jointly hosted by the Cities Climate Finance Leadership Alliance (CCFLA) the Penn Institute for Urban Research (Penn IUR) and the German Government (BMZ and BMWK), will present the 2024 State of Cities Climate Finance Report, funded by the German Government (BMZ and BMWK). The report serves as a leading resource on urban climate investment and assesses the current landscape of urban climate finance, identifies investment needs, and offers actionable recommendations to close the financing gap.
Events at which CCFLA will participate
Closing the city climate finance gap
Tuesday, November 5; 9:00-10:30
ONE UN room B
Hosted by: The World Bank
Meeting climate ambitions requires cities to invest in a wide range of sectors such as low-carbon urban transport, energy-efficient buildings, solid waste management, urban flood resilience, and many others. Particularly in low- and middle-income countries, cities struggle to finance these investment needs. Their own-source revenues are rarely adequate to finance large-scale infrastructure, and often to keep up decent operation and maintenance of existing infrastructure and services. While private investors have pledged large sums of money for sustainable investments, cities often struggle to access this finance for climate investments.
This session will begin with a short presentation from the World Bank, drawing on an ongoing analysis of the investment needs, opportunities, and challenges for financing critical urban climate action in cities in low- and middle- income countries (LMICs). This will be followed by a panel discussion with different urban development and climate finance specialists and stakeholders, who will provide a range of perspectives on what it will take to bridge urban climate finance gaps to meet local and global targets for mitigation and resilience.
CCFLA Associate Director Priscilla Negreiros will speak at this event.
Networking event: Climate-neutral and smart cities – Sparking global system transformation locally
Tuesday, November 5; 13:00-14:30
Co-hosted by Vinnova, NetZeroCities, UN-Habitat and Viable Cities
This interactive networking event will focus on how a new instrument, “System demonstrators”, can go beyond pilots to scaling system transformation in cities and help achieve the mission of climate-neutral and smart cities globally. Experiences will be presented from urban system demonstrator efforts focusing on mobility, housing and energy, ranging from Africa, Latin-America, North America, Asia to Europe.
CCFLA Associate Director Priscilla Negreiros will speak at this event.
Bridging the Gap – Unlocking Finance for Local Climate Projects
Tuesday, November 5; 13:00 – 14:30
Multipurpose room 08
Hosted by: GCOM
This session is designed to address the issue of accessing finance for projects aimed at tackling climate change by bringing together representatives of financial institutions, local governments, and the associations they are involved in to discuss this problem from the perspectives of different sectors and to brainstorm on how to overcome these challenges.
CCFLA Senior Program Associate John Michael LaSalle will speak at this event.
Sustainable and Affordable Housing and Neighborhoods
Tuesday, November 5; 17:00 – 18:30
Multipurpose room 13
Hosted by: Viable Cities
This event will delve into recent experiences and policy strategies aimed at promoting sustainable and affordable housing and neighborhoods in cities worldwide. The session will explore innovations in design, planning, financing, construction materials and methods, building technologies, digitalization, and inclusive stakeholder engagement, among other crucial approaches.
Speakers will share insights from various initiatives, including Viable Cities and Vinnova’s collaboration with 23 Swedish cities, the European Union’s NetZeroCities initiative, and the UN-Habitat Climate Smart Cities Challenge. In addition, there will be discussions on Global Urban Development’s work regarding Affordable Housing Technologies and Sustainable Innovation Communities, as well as discussion on the US National Academy of Sciences’ report on Operationalizing Sustainable Development. Taken together, the panel aims to provide overarching strategies that aim to contribute to the achievement of the UN Sustainable Development Goals, Paris Climate Agreement, and New Urban Agenda by 2030.
CCFLA Program Associate Alastair Mayes will speak at this event.
Leveraging the Transformative Potential of Finance for Climate Action in Cities Learning from Brazil
Tuesday, November 5; 17:00 – 18:30
Multipurpose room 18
Hosted by: GIZ and the Brazil Government
This networking event aims at exploring the critical role of financial institutions and multi-level climate action in advancing sustainable urban development, with the example of stakeholders and initiatives active in Brazil. Discussions will delve into a broad landscape of climate finance and the collaborative potential between Multilateral Development Banks (MDBs), financial intermediaries such as National and Regional Development Banks as well as Project Preparation Facilities (PPFs) and cities to enhance urban climate financing.
CCFLA Associate Director Priscilla Negreiros will speak at this event.
Catalyzing Resilience Action – Augmenting municipal finance for disaster and climate risk informed urban development
Wednesday, November 6; 13:00 – 14:30
Multipurpose room 11
Hosted by: UNDP
This networking event, hosted by UNDP, will bring together organizations working on urban risk-resilience and disaster/climate finance and municipal capacity building related issues, regional intergovernmental organizations, technical and research institutions, private sector and key stakeholders to deliberate upon the need to catalyze resilience action with specific focus on augmenting urban governance, municipal finance and strengthening decision-making processes at city/municipal level to advance risk-informed urban development. Mobilizing national/local governments, risk management and urban development agencies, and stakeholders, the event will focus on the need to invest in resilience at city level.
CCFLA Associate Director Priscilla Negreiros will speak at this event.
Challenges of MDBs for supporting countries and cities on sub-national finance, including green climate finance
Thursday, November 7; 17:00 – 18:30
Voices from Cities – room C
Hosted by: African Development Bank (ADB)
This event, hosted by ADB, will highlight MDBs’ crucial role in mobilizing finance for sustainable urban development, especially in climate action and financing for subnational governments. With over half the world’s population residing in urban areas, cities are pivotal in addressing climate change and fostering resilience. Boosting concessional and climate finance to cities is essential, leveraging MDBs’ expertise and resources to support cities’ transition to low-carbon, resilient futures, and attracting additional resources from the public and private sectors.
The event will serve as a platform for MDBs to showcase their initiatives supporting urban decarbonization and resilience globally. It will also stress the importance of enhanced collaboration among MDBs and other stakeholders to maximize the impact of climate finance at the subnational level.
CCFLA Associate Director Priscilla Negreiros will speak at this event.
Financing Local Climate Action: Global Launch of the Enabling Framework Conditions Assessment Tools to Accelerate Urban Climate Finance
Thursday, November 7; 14:45-15:30
India Pavilion
Hosted by: UN ESCAP, GIZ India
This event presents the new National and Subnational assessment tools for supporting cities’ access to climate finance in the countries of the Asia Pacific region with applicability to other regions. The ambition is for countries throughout Asia-Pacific and beyond to leverage the tools and frameworks to support a more conducive environment for cities to access and finance low-carbon and climate-resilient development.
The specific objectives of this session include:
- Launch of the Urban-Act/CCFLA National and Subnational Assessment tools of Enabling Framework Conditions for subnational climate finance, with key insights from the 2024 piloting in India and Indonesia
- Seek Interest from other countries that would like to undertake the national and subnational city climate finance assessment tools.
- Experience sharing from countries in the Asia Pacific and other regions with regard to accessing city climate finance.
CCFLA Manager Kristiina Yang will speak at this event, hosted by UN ESCAP, GIZ India, and CCFLA.
Advancing Nature-Based Solutions in Cities: Lessons from the State of Finance for Nature in Cities Report 2024
Friday, November 8; 13:30-14:30
Urban Library Room Ain the Egypt International Exhibition Center, El-Moshir TantawyAxis, Al Hay Al Asher, Nasr City, Cairo
Hosted by: UNEP
In 2024, UNEP and the University of Pennsylvania will release the second edition of the State of Finance for Nature in Cities report, which will build on the key findings of the 2023 report. This event will serve as a launching platform for the report, which will outline the benchmarking framework and process, delving deeper into the challenges and delivering new insights and actionable recommendations for closing the data gap. Experts in finance and urban planning will discuss the implications of this analysis and present their views on how additional finance for urban NbS projects can be achieved and support global and local sustainable development goals.
CCFLA Associate Director Priscilla Negreiros will speak at this event.