Finance I: Investment Planning

Vertically integrated investment planning: the road ahead

The Paris Agreement recognises the role of all stakeholders in addressing climate change, including cities and subnational governments, as key actors for the implementation of the Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs). As countries consider how to ratchet up ambition, the commitments made by cities already exceed the ambition of current NDCs, clearly showing that alignment across levels of government will pave the way for increased ambition and action. The implementation of NDCs will require vast flows of technical cooperation and financial investments from all tiers of government if we want to have a multiplying effect on the private sector side. Thus, the process calls for strong collaborative climate action. Policies and investment planning, including legal frameworks, public policies, regulations, action plans, and public and private investments ought to be aligned toward the sound implementation of NDCs. Collaborative climate action is an iterative process along the whole cycle of design, planning, and implementation of NDCs.

The cluster session will focus on challenges and gaps to plan climate investment initiatives at the regional or local level, including technical and financial needs as well as institutional and governance mechanisms to achieve and increase NDC´s commitments through an active participation of relevant stakeholders and levels of government.

1. Local: Leticia Gutiérrez Lorandi. General Director General Director on Policy Coordination and Environmental Culture. Ministry of Environment of Mexico´s City Government.
Focus of intervention: Experience from a subnational government on planning investments for low carbon and resilient urban development (example, CDMX Green Bond or other relevant experience. Could address the question: What are the challenges to generating own-source revenues that are relevant to shore-up access to finance?

2. National: Mr Sikhumbuzo Hlongwane, who is the Executive Director of Economic Development and Planning at KwaDukuza Municipality, South Africa.
Focus of intervention: experience in developing project proposals, having submitted a number of these. The experiences of a growing African secondary city.
– How they tackle climate change in a very integrated way, especially due to climate change’s placement in the economic department of the city.
– A public-private partnership that is operating in the city for improved waste management.

3. Peter Ellis, Lead Urban Economist, World Bank.
Focus of intervention: Share an example of innovative financing instruments that can support this VIP Integration approach. What role can the WB have to help support VIP?

4. International Organization: Robert Kehew, Unit Leader for the Climate Change Planning Unit of UN-Habitat.
Focus of intervention: NAPs vis a vis ‘vertically integrated investment planning’. What role can UN Habitat have to help VIP?

5. International Organization: Gmelina Ramirez, Climate Change Senior Specialist, Climate Change Division, Inter-American Development Bank
Focus of intervention: Example of innovative financing instruments that can support this VIP Integration approach. What role can the IDB have to help support VIP?

6. International Organization: Drazen Kucan, Senior Urban Development and Energy Efficiency Specialist, Division Adaptation & Mitigation, Green Climate Fund (GCF).
Focus of intervention: Experience from GCF on financing low carbon and resilient urban projects. Example of innovative financing instruments that can support this VIP Integration approach. What role can the GCF have to help support VIP?

Moderator: Dr Meggan Spires, Senior Manager: Climate Change, Energy & Resilience.
ICLEI – Local Governments for Sustainability – Africa Secretariat