Five cities proposing urban climate support projects have been selected to receive support through the Global Climate City Challenge.
The challenge is jointly operated by the European Investment Bank (EIB) and the Global Covenant of Mayors (GCoM), an international consortium of municipal leaders working to address the climate emergency; and has been officially endorsed by the European Commission. The challenge, which is open to city authorities and municipal bodies developing projects aimed at mitigating or adapting to the effects of climate change, received applications from 145 projects. 20 cities were shortlisted and five frontrunners were announced at the United Nations’ COP25 climate change conference this week. They are:
- Cotonou in Benin, which is implementing policies to improve its waste management infrastructure and promote recycling, in order to reduce plastic pollution;
- Recife in Brazil, which intends to renovate and expand a local urban park by a river to reduce the risk of flooding and facilitate sustainable mobility;
- Jambi in Indonesia, which aims to reduce its traffic congestion and the resulting pollution levels through a range of measures, including the introduction of electric buses;
- Monastir in Tunisia, which is investigating the potential of nature-based solutions to improve its resilience; and
- Makindye in Uganda, which is developing a programme of climate action across several sectors, including implementing sustainable waste management practices and shoring up energy efficiency.
EIB President Werner Hoyer said: “Cities need support in getting their climate projects off the ground and, as we strengthen our role as the EU’s climate bank, we at the EIB need great role models. In that respect the Global Climate City Challenge, our partnership with GCoM, is immensely important: it showcases climate leaders like the five announced today, but also helps identify what is really needed locally to make them bankable, improve the lives of local people and tackle climate change.”
Mondher Marzouk, Mayor of Monastir, said: “We have no shortage of ideas in our climate action plan but access to finance is instrumental to getting projects out our of pipeline and on to ground. The time to be ambitious in urban climate action is now—and we in Monastir are ready to act.”
