MDB Cities Group, C40 and Gcom - Financing System-Wide Urban Resilience

The session forms part of the ongoing collaboration between the MDB Cities Group and the city networks C40 and GCoM, focusing on central themes aimed at scaling up climate finance for cities. It will examine how climate change is increasingly shaping where and how people live, and how MDBs are financing solutions that strengthen resilience across entire urban systems. Using a systems-thinking lens, the discussion will highlight the interconnections between housing, neighbourhoods, infrastructure and ecosystems, and demonstrate why mainstreaming resilience across these areas is critical to safeguarding urban residents. Building on this framing, the session will draw on concrete examples of how different MDBs have supported urban resilience, emphasizing that aligning MDB finance with city-level planning can enhance resilience, equity and long-term sustainability. These examples will also highlight key features that have contributed to successful implementation, including: - City-wide approaches: ADB’s Sponge/Healthy City initiative, AfDB’s climate-informed planning in Dodoma, and IDB’s Barranquilla biodiversity and equity programme, which demonstrate integrated management of climate risks at the city level. - Project-specific investments: EBRD’s Chisinau River Bîc project, which reduces flood risk for residential aras and highlights proactive resilience investments and the role of direct city lending. - Multi-city approaches: The Southern Brazil Urban Resilience Program, through which the World Bank finances a credit line established by the Southern Brazil Regional Development Bank (BRDE) to on-lend to small and medium-sized Brazilian cities for resilience-focused investments. - Emergency response: AIIB’s Henan Flood Emergency Rehabilitation and Recovery project, illustrating how fast-disbursing finance can protect homes and restore essential services following climate shocks. - Framework lending for small cities: The case of Prokuplje (Serbia) shows how small cities can access MDB finance through framework loans when individual investment volumes are limited. With Gap Fund support, Prokuplje developed the hydraulic studies required to join the EIB-financed Serbia Municipal Infrastructure Resilience (SMIR) programme. The session will also feature findings from an upcoming C40/GCoM report, informed by exchanges with the MDB Cities Group.