Fostering Climate Action at Local Level Learning from Ambitious Cities and Strong Partnerships

Local-level leadership, commitment, and action are critical to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals and the targets of the Paris Agreement. Ambitious local climate action appeals to national governments and global organisations to address the urgency of the climate crisis. Cities inspire higher levels of ambition and ground climate action, promoting low-carbon and resilient urban development.
Initiatives like the City Climate Finance Gap Fund, a collaborative initiative between the European Investment Bank (EIB) and the World Bank, are bridging the gaps between ambitious climate action plans and implementation. The Gap Fund provides timely support and technical assistance, unlocking investment opportunities for climate projects in the early project definition stage.
Multi-stakeholder collaboration is also essential to accelerating local climate action and finance access. The event aims to catalyse concrete actions to unlock urban climate finance at scale by fostering dialogue, knowledge sharing, and connections between diverse stakeholders committed to low-carbon development and climate-resilient cities. Cities benefiting from the Gap Fund, local and national government representatives, multilateral development banks, and community stakeholders will dialogue around the following guiding questions:
● How do early-stage project preparation facilities like the City Climate Finance Gap Fund accelerate local climate action by enhancing bankability and investment readiness?
● How does effective coordination between national and local climate goals create an enabling policy environment to accelerate local climate investments?
● How can cities overcome the main challenges that they face in localising global climate agendas, particularly those related to climate action at the local level?
It will showcase successful city case studies, innovative multi-stakeholder partnerships, and practical solutions like project aggregation. It will also discuss institutional reforms to accelerate climate finance access at the local level.