12 December 2017: The Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate & Energy and the World Bank Group announced a partnership to provide technical and financial assistance to 150 cities that are taking “aggressive climate action.” The initiative will help the cities realize the investment potential of their climate commitments, and contribute to their respective countries’ Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) investment plans in order to meet the targets of the Paris Agreement on climate change.

The collaboration was announced at the One Planet Summit on 12 December 2017, in Paris, France. It will help countries leverage private sector financing by: developing bankable business plans; structuring public-private partnerships (PPPs) to “crowd in” private sector investment; monetizing land value increases; and designing and implementing credit enhancement mechanisms to enable commercial financing to cities.

Cities and communities are leading the fight against climate change, and must have the funds required, said Michael Bloomberg.

Michael R. Bloomberg, the UN Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for Cities and Climate Change and Co-Chair of the Global Covenant of Mayors, underscored that cities and communities are leading the fight against climate change, and they must have the funds required to continue the fight. Jim Yong Kim, World Bank Group President, said that, in the face of more intense natural disasters, cities must be better planned and more resilient.

The World Bank will invest US$4.5 billion to ensure cities have the necessary funding to implement sustainable initiatives and climate resilience programmes. The lending will take place over the next three years under the World Bank’s City Resilience Program (CRP), and will draw on resources from the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA). The CRP helps city governments build greater resilience and adapt to the impacts of climate change.

The Global Covenant of Mayors is an alliance of cities and local governments that are promoting and supporting actions to fight climate change and move to a low emission, resilient society. [World Bank Press Release] [Global Covenant of Mayors Website] [CRP Website]