The United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF) and ICLEI – Local Governments for Sustainability have launched a venture that will invest much-needed capital into promising climate action projects at the local and regional level. The partnership was launched at ICLEI’s annual Resilient Cities Congress —The 10th Global Forum on Urban Resilience and Adaptation.
Under the partnership, the two organizations will collaborate under the banner of ICLEI’s Transformative Actions Program (TAP). TAP is an innovative initiative that aims to catalyze and improve capital flows to cities, towns, and regions to strengthen the capacity to access climate finance and attract investment.
“Local governments are now recognized as an important player in climate adaptation,“ said David Jackson, director of UNCDF’s local development finance practice. “UNCDF is looking forward to accelerating local governments’ lead role in climate adaptation through our partnership with ICLEI.”
Through TAP, UNCDF will finance municipal projects focused on low-emission, climate adaptation and resilience. UNCDF will utilize its International Municipal Investment Fund, which was launched last year to invest in municipal infrastructure projects in developing countries, notably least-developed countries or LDCs, as the funding mechanism.
Municipalities in LDCs are often unable to access the capital necessary to fund climate action projects, whether because they are frozen out of global credit markets or because they rely on funding from central governments. By focusing on unlocking capital for local climate projects, UNCDF and ICLEI are looking to create demonstration effects that will lead to future financing for more local climate action initiatives.
“Municipalities and local governments are well positioned to be drivers of climate action, given their understanding of local needs, relationships with community members, and the relative ease of implementing policies and actions compared to central governments,” said Maryke van Staden, director of ICLEI’s carbon Center. “UNCDF’s partnership with ICLEI through the TAP means that critical funding will get to projects that are the most bankable and impactful climate infrastructure projects in the places that most need them.”
Both UNCDF and ICLEI envision their partnership as a platform that will allow them to marshal their core competencies to create a project pipeline that will support Goal 13 and Goal 11 of the Sustainable Development Goals (Climate Action and Sustainable Cities and Human Settlements), while also enabling access to capital for cities in the least-developed countries.
The strategic partnership is also intended to raise awareness regarding the importance of locally-driven solutions to combat climate change, and the challenge of financing local climate action projects.f
