Is communication the greatest barrier to unlocking climate finance?

Financing resilient urban development is an essential tool in achieving global sustainability targets. Yet there is a lack of communication in the sector and an urgent need to bridge the gap between financial institutions and local governments in particular. Hans-Peter Egler, CEO of the Global Infrastructure Basel Foundation (GIB), opened the “Financing resilience forum” at Resilient 

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“Transformative optimism” towards a resilient world

“Transformative optimism” underlies the actions that local and subnational governments are taking to build a low-carbon and resilient world. It also describes the dedication among national governments that has led to significant advancements in global sustainability policy in recent years. This morning, at the opening plenary of Resilient Cities 2016, Ashok Sridharan, Lord Mayor of Bonn 

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Habitat III: What Needs to be Done on Financing Urban Development

The Mexico City Habitat III meeting on financing urban development is underway. The meeting is meant to provide input to the consultations on the New Urban Agenda concept, to be adopted at the 3rd UN Conference on Housing and Sustainable Urban Development (Habitat III) in Quito later this year. Local governments have an enormous potential 

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Mixing Financial Resources for Local Climate Action

At Metropolitan Solutions 2015, we sat down with Eva Ringhof – Social Development Specialist at the Cities Development Initiative for Asia (CDIA) – and asked her about city-business financing. Below is an edited transcript of the interview. Q: From your perspective at GIZ, and looking out in Asia especially, what do you see as the trends in 

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Developing Bankable Projects for Cities

At Metropolitan Solutions 2015, we interviewed Klaus Gihr (Head of Division, Energy, Water and Agriculture Unit, KfW Development Bank). Below are his thoughts on finance for climate projects in cities. Q: From your perspective, what do you see as the trends in the way that cities are trying to finance their infrastructure or to work 

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Resilient Cities 2015 Interviews: Anne Odic

We conducted a series of interviews at our Resilient Cities 2015 congress. Here, Anne Odic of the Agence Française de Développement talks about how cities can finance their projects.

3 Days to the World Congress: 5 Things to Look Forward To

The World Congress 2015 is nearly upon us, with participants from all over the world ready to talk about how to build a sustainable society. Reaching this goal requires an open-minded approach and the belief that we are not bound by our previous actions or by global economic forces. Many ICLEI Members are already forging 

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