C40 Cities Finance Facility (CFF): Financing climate protection in cities

Context

Cities play a crucial role in mitigating climate change. On the one hand, they are responsible for 70 per cent of all greenhouse gas emissions. On the other, they are also severely affected by the impacts of climate change. In addition, cities around the world are growing rapidly.

To counter this development, around four trillion US dollars would have to be invested in urban infrastructure in the Global South every year. However, many cities lack the necessary resources.

Local capital markets, institutional investors such as insurance companies, investment banks and pension funds, as well as public investments in green technologies, could finance such infrastructure measures. However, at present there are few financially viable projects that are suitable for investing in. This leaves a large funding gap.

Objective

Cities in emerging and developing countries can mobilise funding for ready-to-finance infrastructure projects that contribute to climate action.

Approach

The C40 Cities Finance Facility (CFF) supports cities in preparing finance-ready infrastructure projects for climate action. To this end, the project is developing suitable financing solutions and has so far worked successfully with over 30 cities worldwide. By 2025, CFF partner cities are expected to mobilise a total of over one billion US dollars in climate financing and thus avoid the emission of over 7.5 million tonnes of CO2 by 2050.

Examples of successful projects:

Bogotá: The city is building a 25-kilometre cycle highway that connects different parts of the city.

Jakarta: The city’s bus fleet has been electrified and expanded by a total of 74 e-buses.

Curitiba: The city has successfully agreed financing for five decentralised photovoltaic projects on bus stations and a landfill site.

eThekwini (Durban): A programme renaturalises watercourses and reduces the climate-related disaster risk of flooding.

Last update: November 2023