In August 2020, the Cities Climate Finance Leadership Alliance launched a policy brief which demonstrated that National Development Banks (NDBs) are generally well positioned to support climate-smart urban infrastructure investments.

To explore this opportunity further, the Alliance has commissioned a new product to identify the factors that must be in place to enable NDBs to effectively support subnational governments with the development of climate-smart infrastructure and in achieving their climate objectives. This includes an evaluation of the demand side of green urban infrastructure financing, including hard and soft barriers for cities to access finance from NDBs, and the supply side barriers and opportunities that NDBs face in financing green urban infrastructure.

Based on first-hand interviews with NDBs and cities, the result is a conceptual model of 12 maturity dimensions along four parameters – strategic, financial, business, and operational. This session presented this new work and brought together experts to discuss these issues, including:

Event Opening and Closing: Kristiina Yang, Project Coordinator, CPI / Cities Climate Finance Leadership Alliance

Opening Remarks: Hermann Amecke, Senior Policy Officer, German Federal Ministry of the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMU)

Presentation of NDB Research Findings:

• Diana Smallridge, President & CEO, International Financial Consulting, Ltd.

Panel Discussion

Moderator: Andy Deacon, Director of Strategy and Operations, Global Covenant of Mayors – Co-chair of the Enabling Frameworks Action Group

Panelists:

• Henrique Amarante da Costa Pinto, Vice President, Banco de Desenvolvimento de Minas Gerais (BDMG)
• Drazen Kucan, Lead Urban and Energy Efficiency Specialist, Green Climate Fund
• Rebecca Cameron, Senior Professional Officer – Net Zero Carbon Built Environment, City of Cape Town, South Africa
• Bernardo Roth, Director for Financial Evaluation – Investment Banking Division, Banobras, Mexico