Driving urban transformation through enabling low-carbon infrastructure investments: from policy level to local action ? what are key drivers for success? Stock-taking exchange with the global FELICITY Cities Advisory Facility and EUROCLIMA+

The World Urban Forum (WUF) was established in 2001 by the United Nations to examine one of the most pressing issues facing the world today: rapid urbanisation and its impact on communities, cities, economies, climate change and policies. Representatives of national, regional and local governments, academics, business and community leaders, urban planners and civil society will be among the thousands of people expected to attend WUF11. The UN conference in 2022 is co-organized by Poland?s Ministry of Development Funds and Regional Policy, as well as the Municipal Office of Katowice.

The WUF11 theme Transformation of cities for a Better Urban Future is supported by six Dialogues, each of which explores a different dimension of transformation. Dialogues focus amongst other on building urban resilience, innovative urban solutions, and greener urban futures, and provide a platform for leaders and experts to exchange and jointly develop the global urban agenda in the light of the international climate and development goals.

Cities will play a major role in delivering the European Green Deal. The EIB, as the EU bank, directly links to Green Deal priorities by supporting a circular economy, biodiversity, sustainable mobility, zero pollution and just transition. EIB offers a range of financial instruments to promote sustainable development in cities, including multi-sector urban framework loans and advisory instruments, such as Urban Investment Support (URBIS), a dedicated platform within the European Investment Advisory Hub. An example for EIB?s activities outside the EU is the FELICITY ? Cities Advisory Facility, a joint initiative with the German government providing advice to cities in Brazil, Indonesia, Ecuador and Mexico.  The City Climate Finance Gap Fund, is another example of successful collaboration between the EIB and GIZ.

Description of the session

The overall objective of the exchange is to identify common grounds to support strategic efforts to link international financing and local infrastructure demand, thus increasing the scale of climate action and emissions reduction potential of cities. It features the example of two European Initiatives that are active globally:  FELICITY and EUROCLIMA+.

Programme

14:00   Welcome and Introduction
Priscilla Negreiros ( Climate Policy Initiative / CCFLA )

14:05   Opening statement? How does multi-level cooperation catalyse climate finance?
Horst Pilger ( Head of Sector for Sustainable Development and Environmental Protection, DG INTPA EU Commission )

14:15   Online Questionnaire: Who is in the (online) audience? What do they see as challenges for access to Climate Finance? Results of the Poll & visualization

14:20   Roundtable discussion I ? Policy perspective: What are successful approaches to drive investments from policy level?
Panellists: - Dar?o Herrera ( Ministry of Urban Development, Housing and Settlements in Ecuador),
                - Rodrigo Henriquez ( Ministry of Transportation and Telecommunications of Chile )

14:40   Interlude ? Video by FELICITY

14:45   Roundtable discussion II ? Investment perspective: What are challenges and opportunities for international urban climate finance?
Panellists:  - Markus Berndt (European Investment Bank )
                 - Marcelo Barros ( National Development Bank of Ecuador )
                - Rolando L?pez (City of Antonio Ante)

15:15   Key takeways
All panellists to state a key takeway for his/her institution on how to enable climate investments

15:25   Concluding remarks
Priscilla Negreiros ( Climate Policy Initiative / CCFLA  )