Financing Sustainable Cities

Some cities struggle to access finance for climate change action. The reasons vary from a lack of private finance expertise and contacts, to strategies that aren’t designed to be ‘bankable’.

Unlocking finance

Financing Sustainable Cities identified the barriers to financing low carbon growth. It also engaged city leaders, financiers and other key stakeholders in developing a plan for city investment.

Part of EIT Climate-KIC’s Low Carbon City Lab programme, it brought together three cities – Edinburgh, Birmingham and Dublin.

It had four objectives:

• Conduct a capacity assessment of each city’s ability to access private finance
• Identify priority projects for low carbon and climate resilient development in each city where finance is required, eg: electric buses, rooftop solar installation or green fintech initiatives
• Develop a draft financing and capacity development plan for each city
• Hold a workshop with the cities, investors, key stakeholders and relevant experts to review the plans, refine them and lay the foundations for a larger programme to deliver them

Former ECCI Executive Director and project leader, Professor Andy Kerr, said:

“Cities bring together ideas and people on a scale that can unlock transformative change in our move to a zero carbon world.

“But they need financing and a strong economic model behind them to continue to grow and develop.

“What’s exciting about this project is its potential to remove the barriers that have been holding cities back in our move to a thriving zero carbon future.”

Find out more

Interested in cities as drivers of change? Check out our ConnectedClusters project to deliver effective climate action across six city-regions.