Abstract

The 2021 State of Cities Climate Finance Report examines the current state of urban climate investment, the barriers to reaching the needed investment levels, and the steps to overcoming these challenges. Produced by the Cities Climate Finance Leadership Alliance (the Alliance), the report contributes to the Alliance’s mission to mobilize city-level climate finance at scale by 2030. The report also contributes to the Leadership for Urban Climate Investment framework initiative hosted by the Alliance, which aims to create a strong global architecture for subnational climate finance and tracking. 

The report delivers its findings in two parts (both attached below):

• The Landscape of Urban Climate Finance (Part 1). Authored by the Cities Climate Finance Leadership Alliance Secretariat (Climate Policy Initiative) in partnership with the Atlantic Council’s Adrienne Arsht-Rockefeller Foundation Resilience Center, Part 1 presents the most comprehensive estimate of global urban climate finance.
• The Enabling Conditions for Urban Climate Finance (Part 2). Authored by the World Bank, Part 2 analyzes enabling frameworks and presents solutions for mobilizing climate finance for low-carbon, climate-resilient urban development pathways.

Part 1 provides a framework for consolidated tracking estimates of urban climate financial flows, which can be used in the future to monitor and benchmark progress, and to provide a building block to improve funding performance. In this report, we estimate how much capital is being invested to address climate change mitigation and adaptation in cities and how much of an investment gap exists at a global scale. As the first comprehensive review of the landscape of cities’ climate finance, we have developed a working definition of urban climate finance and proposed a methodological approach for tracking relevant investment flows, which are also outlined in the report.

Part 2 of the report is the first attempt to provide a common level of understanding of the terminologies, knowledge, and themes used by climate policy and climate finance practitioners, city-level urban planners, and municipal finance officials. It is intended to act as a resource for climate change stakeholders who are interested in, but less familiar with municipal finance in developing country contexts and those municipal finance stakeholders who are less familiar with global climate finance and how this can be mobilized in urban areas.

Affiliated Organizations

The World Bank

The World Bank provides low-interest loans, interest-free credits and grants to developing countries for a wide array of purposes that include investments in education, health, public administration, infrastructure, financial and private sector development, agriculture and environmental and natural resource management.

Read More