Cities are major contributors to climate change, responsible for more than two-thirds of global greenhouse gasses (GHG) emissions. Particularly in coastal zones, cities are also adversely affected by increasing temperatures, sea level rise and other extreme weather events such as floods, cyclones, and hurricanes. While urbanization rates are rising globally, the effects of climate change on urban infrastructure can be disastrous, impacting economic and social well-being.
Cities can play a vital role in the low-carbon, climate-resilient transition from the perspectives of both climate mitigation and adaptation. However, access to finance is critical for the development and financing of climate-resilient urban infrastructure.
The Cities Climate Finance Leadership Alliance chose Momentus (formerly IFCL) to develop this knowledge product on Leveraging National Development Banks (NDBs) to enhance financing for climate-smart urban infrastructure. It identifies the barriers and enablers cities and NDBs face at the policy, legal, financial, and institutional levels and provides an overview of the challenges and opportunities municipalities face in financing climate-smart urban infrastructure.
We also developed a maturity model based on the findings from consultations with various cities and NDBs. The model reflects the key parameters required to overcome the identified challenges at every level. To illustrate different dimensions of City and NDB maturity models, we included case examples of good practices from the demand and supply side of climate-smart urban infrastructure financing.
