The Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate & Energy and the World Bank Group announced a new partnership that will provide technical and financial assistance to 150 cities across the world undertaking aggressive climate action programs.
The World Bank said in a statement December 12 it will allocate an investment of US$4.5 billion to ensure cities battling the increasing threats of climate change have the funding necessary to implement sustainable initiatives and climate resilience programs.
The partnership will help countries leverage the private sector by developing bankable business plans, structuring public-private partnerships to crowd in private sector investment, monetizing increases in land values, and designing and implementing credit enhancement mechanisms to allow commercial financing to cities.
The lending will occur over the next three years under the umbrella of the World Bank’s City Resilience Program (CRP) to provide financial and technical assistance to 150 cities, including current and future Global Covenant cities, to drive climate ambitions forward and upwards and build greater resilience to climate and disaster risks.
The CRP is a newly launched initiative by the World Bank to assist city governments in building greater resilience and adapting to the impacts of climate change.
The loans will draw on resources from the World Bank’s International Finance Corporation and the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency.
The partnership will be inclusive and open to the full spectrum of investors, from multilateral development banks and international financial institutions, to institutional investors, private investors, and local commercial banks.
Ultimately, this collaboration between the Global Covenant of Mayors and the World Bank will help ensure cities realize the investment potential of their climate action commitments, and will have the ability to contribute to their government’s Nationally Determined Contribution investment plans in order to meet their Paris Agreement targets.
“Cities are preparing today for the risks of climate change by increasing their resiliency and sustainability—and the World Bank’s financing will help them do more of this work,” said Michael R. Bloomberg, UN secretary-general’s special envoy for cities & climate change and co-chair of the Global Covenant of Mayors. “The fight against climate change is being led by cities and communities and it’s essential they have the funds to continue it.”
“As the force of natural disasters intensifies, we need to better plan and build more resilient cities,” said Jim Yong Kim, president of the World Bank Group. “We are proud to partner with the Global Covenant of Mayors to do just that. With the World Bank’s investment of $4.5 billion in cities, we can support local leaders to protect people from the impacts of climate change.”
The Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate & Energy formally brings together the Compact of Mayors and the EU Covenant of Mayors, the world’s two primary initiatives assisting cities and local governments in their transition to a low-carbon and climate resilient economy.
The covenant has more than 7,400 city signatories across six continents and 119 countries, representing over 680 million people or nearly 10% of the global population.
Photo: Jonipoon
