New sustainable infrastructure coming to nine cities as C40 Cities Finance Facility announces support for transformational projects.
Nine cities will receive specialist financial advice and bespoke support from leading global experts to develop sustainable infrastructure projects from great ideas and plans into fully financed reality.
The Colombian cities of Bogotá, Bucaramanga, Cali, Montería, along with Tshwane, South Africa; Quito, Ecuador; Curitiba, Brazil; Quezon City, The Philippines; and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, will receive support over the next two years from the C40 Cities Finance Facility.
This support will allow the cities to prepare a financially sound business proposal for projects that they have identified as priorities to meet their ambitious vision of being world leaders in delivering sustainable and inclusive climate action.
Tshwane is set to welcome a 17km bicycle spine through the city and support the construction of a combined heat and power biogas plant at the Zeekoegat waste water treatment works. Image credit: Creative Commons
The support provided by a host of national and international experts will enable each city to develop high-quality infrastructure projects which fit the needs of its citizens. The initiative will also ensure the cities retain the skills and structures to produce a pipeline of sustainable infrastructure projects throughout the city.
The C40 Cities Finance Facility selected nine cities following a rigorous and competitive process including a call for applications in early 2018, and a competitive process to select suitable projects. Support has been offered to cities in the sectors of transportation, energy and adaptation.
In Tshwane, the C40 Cities Finance Facility will help create a 17km bicycle spine through the city and support the construction of a combined heat and power biogas plant at the Zeekoegat waste water treatment works.
Further north of Africa in Dar es Salaam, the C40 Cities Finance Facility will help reduce the vulnerability of the Msimbazi floodplain to extreme climate related flooding. The project will create much needed employment and protect the city’s most vulnerable citizens from extreme weather events.
“The mayors of the world’s great cities know what needs to be done to create the healthy, prosperous and sustainable cities of the future. Investors and global financial institutions need to step up and match the bold ambition being displayed by mayors,” says Anne Hidalgo, Paris mayor and C40 chair. “I’m delighted that, with support from the C40 Cities Finance Facility, these nine cities will deliver the transformation that citizens are demanding for their communities.”
The scientific evidence is now absolutely clear that we need urgent and radical transformations in our cities to prevent climate breakdown, says Mark Watts, C40 executive director.
“The C40 Cities Finance Facility is so valuable because it helps unlock the finance needed to make great ideas on paper, a reality on city streets. The challenge now is to increase the speed and scale that these sustainable infrastructure projects are built, including in cities beyond the C40 network. That’s why we’re thrilled that three non-C40 cities in Colombia are included in the list of cities benefiting from CFF support today.”
