Cities are indispensable actors in achieving the global climate goals, yet they face significant barriers to accessing the financial resources needed for impactful climate action – particularly in least-developed countries, where cities receive just 1% of needed funds for mitigation and adaptation. As highlighted by the State of Cities Climate Finance 2024 Report, annual urban climate finance must increase more than fivefold to attain a 1.5°C climate pathway.
To increase finance flows to cities, we need to institutionalize multi-level governance mechanisms to elevate cities’ needs, strengthen their capacity to develop innovative financing models and bankable projects, and streamline cities’ access to national and international climate funds.
What actions have cities implemented to scale up urban climate finance? In what ways does multi-level governance support this process? How are UrbanShift and the international community strengthening multi-level governance to improve an enabling environment for cities to access climate finance effectively?
Co-organized by UrbanShift and UNEP, this webinar will showcase the importance of multi-level governance in scaling up urban climate finance, linking thematically to his year’s UNFCCC COP29 on climate finance and multi-level cooperation. It will feature a distinguished group of local leaders and global experts who will articulate how to address the challenges and solutions for closing the urban climate finance gap, and how UrbanShift and the international community have supported cities in strengthening multi-level governance and enhancing access to climate finance.
This webinar will be offered in English with translation into French, Spanish and Portuguese.
Speakers
- Gulnara Roll, Head of Cities Unit and Officer-in-Charge for Mitigation Branch, UN Environment Programme
- Ruth Zugman Do Coutto, Deputy Director of Climate Change Division, UN Environment Programme
- Pablo Lazo, Director of Urban Development, WRI Ross Center for Sustainable Cities
- Natalia Salazar, Head of Innovative Finance, ICLEI World Secretariat
- Andrea Fernández, Managing Director, Climate Finance, Knowledge and Partnerships, C40 Cities
- Leonardo Madeira Martins, Coordinator of Agenda 2030, City of Teresina, Brazil
- Sharon Gil, Programme Management Officer and Cities Lead, UN Environment Programme
- Jessie Press-Williams, Senior Analyst, Cities Climate Finance Leadership Alliance, Climate Policy Initiative
- Eugénie Birch, Nussdorf Professor and co-Director, Penn Institute for Urban Research University of Pennsylvania
- Maria Camila Uribe, Sector Principal Leader, IDB Cities Network Coordinator, Housing and Urban Development Division, Climate Change and Sustainable Development Sector, Inter-American Development Bank
- Aloke Barnwal, Thematic Lead- Urban and Infrastructure, Global Environment Facility
