Local Climate Champions: Transforming Cities for a Sustainable Future
WRI Ross Center for Sustainable Cities
Helping cities make big ideas happen. Project of World Resources Institute. Producer of TheCityFix.com
The next few months are key for sustainable cities. The United Nations General Assembly and Climate Week NYC will set the tone for action on climate, nature and development, with the World Urban Forum, G20 and COP29 following close behind.
It’s on the critical but often overlooked mechanics that link commitment to action where we hope to see progress. How do we mobilize finance on the scale needed, how do we build stronger NDCs (and track them better), and how do we funnel more resources to the most vulnerable countries?
Current funding falls far short. According to the Independent High-Level Expert Group on Climate Finance, developing countries need $1 trillion a year in external finance to achieve climate and nature goals by 2030. Progress in some corners is remarkable – globally, solar generation increased 27% in the first half of 2024. But it’s also been incredibly uneven. Africa receives only 2% of global clean energy investment.
Cities and communities are ready for more, but struggle to access finance at scale. It is time to put cities at the center of national climate action plans.
At Climate Week NYC, the Coalition for High Ambition Multi-level Partnerships will convene ministers and subnational leaders, including “first movers,” working to strengthen NDCs with urban content at a High-Level Political Dialogue. The SCALE initiative’s Action Dialogue will feature governors, mayors and others committed to enhancing and supporting subnational climate ambition. And on September 25, we will be showcasing the extraordinary initiatives creating climate-ready communities from the 2023-2024 WRI Ross Center Prize for Cities and announcing the Grand Prize Winner at an awards celebration and learning event.
Now is the time to be bold, to get the flow of finance to cities underway and to empower our local climate champions.
- Rogier van den Berg Global Director, WRI Ross Center for Sustainable Cities
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Regional Director: ICLEI Africa at ICLEI
3moReally great and informative articles, congratulations to #Rogier and #WRi Ross Center for Sustainable Cities! There are so many areas where our organisations work in complementary ways and on similar issues with our cities, which makes me very excited about current actions deepening our collaboration, not only in Africa, but indeed globally!