25 September 2014: During the UN Climate Summit, commitments were made to: raise US$2 billion for cities at risk from extreme weather events due to climate change; help 500 local governments develop resilience action plans by 2020; and double the number of cities and partners committed to building resilience by the end of 2015.

The Resilient Cities Acceleration Initiative (RCAI) aims to accelerate the design and implementation of integrated strategies that strengthen urban system resilience, reduce the vulnerability of cities to climate and disaster risks, ensure sustainable, equitable urban development, and double its estimated annual investment in urban resilience by 2020.

The initiative, supported by the Rockefeller Foundation and others in the Medellin Collaboration for Urban Resilience (created at the 7th World Urban Forum in Medellin, Colombia), brings together a range of partners, including UN-Habitat, the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR), the World Bank Group, the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), the C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group, and ICLEI – Local Governments for Sustainability.

During the Climate Summit, Jack Dangermond, Founder and President of Esri (a supplier of Geographical Information Systems (GIS) software), called the platform an “accelerator of innovation.” He also announced a grant for GIS software training to 50 cities through which resources worth US$500 million “will be harnessed to build visualization capacity in cities.”

The RCIA will also support: increased access to, and deployment of, funding and technical support to cities; mobilization of political commitments and tracking of progress on resilience actions; improved efficiency and impact through connecting cities to potential partners; and translating national policies and investment into impact-oriented action plans at the local level.

The initiative will manage an online marketplace as a “one-stop shop” for cities to access resources, which: aggregates and profiles support and services available from the private sector, partner institutions, and others to help cities implement their resilience commitments; shares technologies and provides access to data, information and resilience assessments; helps cities connect to new partners; and introduces harmonized tools to support local efforts. The marketplace’s development will begin this year and will be officially launched during the Third UN World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) in Sendai, Japan, in March 2015.

RCIA commitments will be documented online and updates on progress will be made to the upcoming sessions Conference of the Parties (COP) to the UNFCCC, the Third World DRR Conference and Habitat III, among others. [UNISDR Press Release] [RCIA Action Statement] [IISD RS Coverage of the UN Climate Summit]