Posted on: Oct 27th, 2021

The Alliance at COP26

Cities Climate Finance Leadership Alliance experts will be hosting and presenting at several events at COP26 in November 2021. These will cover the State of Cities Climate Finance, preparing bankable projects at scale, innovative financing instruments and mechanisms for closing the investment gap for urban subnational climate projects and infrastructure, enhancing the role of NDBs in supporting urban climate projects and infrastructure, and other topics.

Events Organised by the Alliance

Financing Climate Action in Cities

Wednesday 10 November 1- 3 PM (GMT)

Virtual

The OECD and the Cities Climate Finance Leadership Alliance (The Alliance) will facilitate this event that will convene national and subnational policy-makers, climate and public finance experts, and private sector stakeholders from across the globe, and leverage their combined expertise in subnational climate finance.

This event delves into the importance of understanding the size and type of financial flows being channelled towards climate action, and ensuring these flows align with global climate agreements. CPI’s Bella Tonkonogy, Tiza Mafira, and Laura Jungman will participate.

Register

Financing the Sustainable Cities of the Future

Thursday 11 November 3.30 – 5PM (GMT)

Green Zone/Virtual

The Cities Climate Finance Leadership Alliance, C40 Cities Finance Facility, GIZ, ICLEI – Local Governments for Sustainability, and World Climate Foundation will co-organize this event which will showcase innovative solutions and success stories on how to best leverage public and private finance to unlock the trillions of financing needed over the next decade for low-carbon, climate-resilient infrastructure in cities.

Barbara Buchner will moderate the event with speakers:

  • Councilor Richard Bell, City of Glasgow, UK
  • Vice Mayor Isabella de Roldao, Recife, Brazil
  • Norbert Gorißen, Deputy Director General at German Federal Ministry for the Environment
  • Roelfien Kuijpers, Managing Director, Head of Responsible Investments and Strategic Relationships, DWS Investments
  • Carolina Urrutia, Secretary of Environment of Bogotá, Colombia
  • Maryke van Staden, ICLEI, Director of ICLEI’s Bonn Center for Local Climate Action and Reporting (carbonn Climate Center)
  • Dr Heike Henn, Director for Climate Policy, Energy, Urban Development and Environment and Commissioner for climate policy and climate financing at the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ)
  • Carmen Vogt, Head of Cities, GIZ

Events the Alliance will participate at

Finance flowing to accelerate Climate Action: Innovation and Partnership

3 November 2021, 13:00 – 14:25 BST (GMT)

Multilevel Action Pavilion, Blue Zone

The session will be divided into three parts: (i) First, local government representatives from Europe, South America and Africa sharing their challenges to secure finance. (ii) This will be followed by financial institution representatives showcasing the instruments they offer. (iii) Finally, an exchange between the local governments and financial experts discussing how to improve collaboration and upscale action, allowing cities to accelerate their climate ambition.

Bella Tonkonogy will provide closing remarks.

Register

Reshaping the Urban Energy Landscape

Friday 5 November; 16:00 – 17:30
Virtual
Laura Jungman, Senior Consultant at CPI, will participate in this event hosted by the European Youth Energy Network. This event follows up on an earlier workshop, ‘Reshaping the urban energy landscape: citizen’s perspective on the urban energy transition’ and will share its outcomes. The Alliance will participate in an interactive discussion related to the challenges and solutions of specific cities analysed during the workshop, while bringing the insights and best practices to other cities around the world.
Visit the EYEN website

Mobilising Climate finance for mitigation and adaptation – challenges and innovation for solutions
Thursday 11 November; 10:45-12:15, Virtual
As part of the Built Environment and Net Zero Conference hosted by the University of Glasgow, this session will provide an overview of the challenges facing cities and organisations in mobilising mitigation and adaptation finance, and showcase innovative solutions from actors across the value chain in making it happen. With the benefits of climate mitigation and adaptation clearly established, attention has shifted over the recent years to the availability of financing for implementing such solutions. This session is organised in partnership with the City of Glasgow, which has been recently appointed the UK/European region Alliance City Ambassadorship.
Learn more and Register for the conference here

Net Zero and Built Environment

Thursday 11 November; 10:45- 12:15
Virtual

Priscilla Negreiros, Manager of the Cities Climate Finance Leadership Alliance, will participate in this event hosted by the University of Glasgow.

Cities, Climate Change and MDBs: Cooperation, Action and Delivery

Thursday 11 November; 12:15-13:15, MDB Pavilion
Multilateral Development Banks can play an essential role in mobilising finance to support climate action in cities and realise the goals of the Paris Agreement. The Alliance will moderate this side event, which will present the actions MDBs are taking to support meaningful investments for urban decarbonisation and resilience across the globe. The event will highlight the collaboration between MDBs, with the public and private sector, and with CSOs to enable impactful change in cities. Lastly, the event will highlight the investment and impact goals for cities each MDB has agreed to deliver. The event will include participation of ADB, AfDB, AIIB, EBRD, EIB, IADB, IFC, WB.
Watch the Live Stream on EBRD’s Youtube Channel

Building Ambition: Scaling Finance for Sustainable Cities

Thursday 11 November; 12:15 – 13:30
Blue Zone/Virtual

Kristiina Yang will participate in this session, hosted by the Chatham House Sustainability Accelerator. Reducing carbon emissions from cities and the built environment will be vital to meet the Paris Agreement and deliver resilient and sustainable places, but financing activities that make this decarbonization shift possible remains challenging. Reaching the decarbonization potential of cities will require a greater alignment of finance and investment with sustainability goals. During this session experts will discuss: How can more finance be mobilized to support sustainable cities? What progress has been made in 2021, including during COP26, and what’s next? Where do we need to do more work?
Learn more on the Chatham House COP26 website

Alliance Members at COP26

Tuesday, 2 November
Cities Alliance – Urban informality and inequality: a call for global climate justice
10.00-11:30 GMT  / Green Zone
The Cities Alliance is co-organizing an event with CLGF, UKRI, BMZ, ICLEI and GCRF on urban informality & equality. This event will bring together a cross section of global voices from local and city government, central government, research communities, and civil society to discuss climate justice and the importance to take urban informality and inequality into account in climate change action.

Lincoln Institute of Land Policy – Expert Roundtable on the Potential of Land-based Revenues for Climate Mitigation and Resilience
16.00-15:30 GMT  / Virtual (Register Here)
This event organised by the Lincoln Institute will explore how public investment in land-based climate action, such as the natural infrastructure featured in Design with Nature Now, may increase land values and inform market decisions, and how those gains could be used to mobilize finance for additional climate action – an explicit priority of this COP.

Thursday, 4 November
Covenant of Mayors in Sub-Saharan Africa – Strengthening Multilevel and Inclusive Governance for Climate Action: Messages from African Mayors for COP26
13.00-15.00 GMT / Blue Pavilion (LGMA Multilevel Action Pavilion, UrbanLEDS Time4Multilevel Dialogues) – hybrid event
This session will provide the opportunity for African Mayors to engage in discussion with African negotiators, the European Commission, and key members of the LGMA around the expected outcomes of the negotiations at COP26 and the implications for cities in Africa. City leaders will provide perspectives from their communities and the action they are taking on the ground as well as outcomes from both CoM SSA Day at the Climate Chance Summit and Africa Climate Week.

FELICITY “Financing Energy for Low-carbon Investment – Cities Advisory Facility” – Low-Carbon Urban Infrastructure Preparation and Financing in Indonesia 

8:30-9:45 GMT/ EIB & BENELUX Pavilion (hybrid mode)

The event showcases the relevance of green urban infrastructure development in Indonesia based on the strategic partnership between Indonesia and the EU, and the ongoing cooperation between Indonesia, Germany, and EIB. Within this context, the event will share hands on experience on preparing green urban infrastructure and linking cities to finance from Metropolitan Makassar and Batam City Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) investment projects, currently supported by FELICITY.

Friday, 5 November
The City Climate Finance Gap Fund – Mobilizing Urban Climate Finance through the City Climate Finance Gap Fund
11.00-12.00 GMT / Benelux Pavilion
Hosted by the donors of the Gap Fud, this event will bring together panelists from existing and prospective partners and the Fund implementers (World Bank and EIB) to showcase the City Climate Finance Gap Fund as a key partner and player in mobilizing urban climate finance. Key goals will be to: provide an overview of the Gap Fund and its critical role in mobilizing urban climate finance and progress to date; present the Donor perspective on the unique value proposition of the Gap Fund; facilitate a dialogue amongst donors and answer key questions that prospective partners may have on the fund.

Saturday, 6 November
Coalition for Urban Transitions – Localising NDCs & supporting city action for a green and just recovery towards an 1.5 degree world
18.30-19.45 GMT /  Blue Zone
The Coalition for Urban Transitions is organising an event with GIZ and C40 that will discuss how national policies and targeted finance are crucial to delivering local climate action. National governments should place cities and local governments at heart of their plans to increase resilience, reduce emissions and generate green jobs, thus creating a more sustainable and equitable future.

Sunday, 7 November
World Climate Foundation – The Intelligent City: Creating Sustainable Cities through Public-Private Partnerships & Innovation
15.00-16.00 GMT / World Climate Summit
In this session smart-city experts, including from C40 Cities Finance Facility and WWF, will share examples of successful public–private partnerships from around the world. What are the challenges associated with providing funding, technical know-how, and innovation that complements public-sector efforts? What innovations are needed to create the sustainable city of tomorrow?

Tuesday, 9 November
C40 Cities Finance Facility (CFF) – Climate Action Award Winner Panel Discussion
15:30-16:30 GMT / Blue Zone, Davos Room (TBC)
The UNFCCC’s Global Climate Action Award is given to projects and initiatives that demonstrate innovative and transformative solutions to address both climate change and wider economic, social and environmental challenges. This event will celebrate CFF as the winner in the Financing for Climate Friendly Investment category in 2020. The award recognises the CFF’s efforts to empower cities so they can contribute to efforts to tackle the climate emergency, by helping cities to address their climate and urban finance gaps.

FELICITY “Financing Energy for Low-carbon Investment – Cities Advisory Facility” and EIB – Accelerating Low-Carbon Urban Infrastructure Investments – Lessons from FELICITY to take climate policy to green urban Action 

14:45-16:00 GMT EIB & BENELUX Pavilion (hybrid)

This high-level dialogue features the approach of FELICITY, a joint initiative by Germany, GIZ and EIB in the spirit of Team Europe, at the critical interface of policy, capacity support, and financial operations. The experiences of Porto Alegre in Brazil, supported by FELICITY in realizing energy efficiency measures in 99 schools provides the ground for analysis and discussion: Which overarching lessons can be drawn on effectively linking the chain for urban climate action? How can strategic alliances and concerted action enhance access to climate finance and sustainable investments? What are concrete perspectives of taking pilot experiences to scale through a Team Europe approach?

Development Bank of Latin America (CAF) – Side event on Catalyzing Climate Action in Cities 
17.30-19.00 GMT / IDFC-CAF Pavilion
The event will feature several keynote speakers followed by a panel discussion with panelists from the public and financing sector on best practice examples for city-level adaptation and/ or mitigation action, and financing opportunities.

Thursday, 11 November
The German Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) – Cities built4climate – Shaping the Global Transformation in Construction
11.30-13.00 GMT / German Pavillion
BMZ is co-organizing an event with UNEP-GABS, UN One Planet SBC Network, ACC, Bauhaus der Erde and BMI on Cities built4climate. The relevance, challenges, and potentials for climate protection in the sector will be discussed with partners from ministries, UN networks and urban think tanks from the Global South and Germany.

The City Climate Finance Gap Fund – Helping cities early on to turn climate plans and pipelines into action
17.00-18.30 GMT / MDB Pavilion
The event is co-organized by the World Bank and European Investment Bank. It will bring together a mix of panelists including a Donor, the Fund implementers (WB and EIB) and city representatives to showcase the City Climate Finance Gap Fund as a key partner and player in turning cities climate ideas, plans and pipelines into action.

IDFC, FMDV and AFD – The role of Public Development Banks to Finance the Climate Transition in Cities 

9:30-11:00 GMT/IDFC Pavilion 

Unlocking climate financing at the subnational level is a prerequisite to achieve the Paris agreement goals as Cities are key game changers in the transition to net zero emissions. A total of USD 90,000 billion is needed by 2030 to bridge the urban infrastructure investment gap to mitigate global warming to 2°C. However, less than 10% of international climate finance is currently allocated to local investments. In order to bridge this financial gap, Public Development Banks have a unique role to play. This event will be livestreamed on IDFC’s website.

Throughout COP26
Adrienne Arsht-Rockefeller Foundation Resilience Center at the Atlantic Council – Race to Resilience Hub
The COP Resilience Hub event programme is now open for registration at https://cop-resilience-hub.org/ and unites business, investors, civil society, academia, cities and regions in a feat of global cooperation that has created a programme of over 70 events and initiatives that will run in parallel alongside COP26. The COP Resilience Hub is managed by the Adrienne Arsht-Rockefeller Foundation Resilience Center at the Atlantic Council, Global Resilience Partnership and The Resilience Shift.