Authors: Hamza Abdullah, CCFLA, Olle Dierks, Viable Cities, Johanna Eklund, GTI

This concept note introduces intra-city aggregated procurement as a systemic, innovative approach for cities to shape markets for climate-neutral and resilience-enhancing materials, technologies and infrastructure. This approach is envisioned as a way for cities to bring together private and public organizations to combine their individual procurement demands in areas such as low-carbon construction, green mobility and clean energy.

Accordingly, this concept note develops the strategic imperative for intra-city aggregated procurement, with practical models for aggregating private and public demand (Part A). It presents a phased program for cities to convene the private and public sectors and implement this approach (Part B). The concept note has been developed in collaboration with leading international institutions. It is strategically aligned with the market-transformation goals of the First Movers Coalition (FMC), city-level procurement initiatives of the C40 Clean Construction program, and the systemic framework of the System Demonstrators program, among others.  The program will focus on developing a practical playbook, testing it with pilot cities, and scaling it through strategic partnerships and policy engagement.

Intra-city aggregated procurement can be applied to sectors that both reduce emissions (e.g., renewable energy) and enhance resilience (e.g., flood-resilient infrastructure). For this concept note, we focus the procurement approach on the FMC-aligned cement and concrete sector due to its high embodied-carbon footprint. The goal is to pilot this approach in a high-impact sector before scaling it to other city-wide procurement activities. This note specifically focuses on implementable models of demand aggregation to shape markets within a city. It does not focus on pooling approaches, such as jointly procuring materials through a single, large tender.

Concept Note Development Partners and Alignment with CHAMP

The concept note was developed by the Cities Climate Finance Leadership Alliance, Viable Cities, and the Green Transition Initiative, in consultation with UN-Habitat, the First Movers Coalition, C40 Cities, Dark Matter Labs, the World Resources Institute (WRI), the Global Environment Facility, the Global Covenant of Mayors, and the Urban Transitions Mission. This work supports Sweden’s participation in the Coalition for High Ambition Multilevel Partnerships (CHAMP), a global platform that accelerates the climate transition in cities. Viable Cities coordinates the country’s participation in CHAMP, which positions intra-city aggregated procurement as a key tool for connecting subnational climate action with the national climate frameworks of CHAMP-endorsing countries.