Financing Resilient Cities for the Future

On the 15th of October, urban leaders around the world discussed a wide range of projects working to leverage international, national, and subnational financial structures to make more climate-resilient cities for the future. The experts included Nathaniel Echeverria, Lead, Resilience Finance and Engagement at the Resilient Cities Network; Jaime Pumarejo, Executive Director of Breath Cities and former mayor of Barranquilla, Colombia; Mauricio Rodas, Visiting Fellow at Penn Institute for Urban Research and former mayor of Quito, Ecuador; and Gulnara Roll, Head of Cities Unit at United Nations Environment Programme. The conversation was moderated by Eugenie Birch, Co-Director of the Penn Institute for Urban Institute.

The discussion focused on the challenges that cities (particularly in the global south) face in accessing means of financing Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and explored potential mechanisms to address this. Eugenie Birch began the conversation by emphasizing the need for increased financial flows to support developing cities in achieving the SDGs, particularly those related to climate change mitigation and adaptation. She highlighted the substantial gap between current funding levels and estimated needs, noting that annual requirements could be as high as $2.4 trillion to $6 trillion. Nate Echeverria discussed the importance of having cities transition from resilience planning to implementing projects. He outlined Resilience Cities Networks’ two-pronged approach to achieve these plans, which consisted of community impact funds and the creation of an urban resilience finance task force. Mauricio Rodas focused on the need for systemic change to facilitate cities’ access to finance for resilience projects. Describing the current global finance architecture as ‘unfriendly’, Rodas presented the Green Cities Guarantee Fund  —  an initiative being developed by the SDSN Global Commission for Urban SDG Finance—  as a counter to these issues.

The discussion also looked at the need for integrating and increasing funding for nature-based solutions in urban resilience strategies. Jaime Pumarejo addressed how cities should view nature as a significant asset and investment, and highlighted how green initiatives can assist urban socio-economic initiatives using the example of Barranquilla as a successful implementer of nature-based solutions. Gulnara focused on nature-based solutions as well, citing UNEP initiatives such as the ‘Generation Restoration project’, which supports community-driven ecosystem restoration initiatives in cities worldwide.

Overall, the talk emphasized the role of collaboration, capacity building, and knowledge sharing in empowering cities to effectively address climate change and achieve the Sustainable Development Goals.

This event was part of Climate Week at Penn.