To Finance a Transition That “Can’t Wait,” Penn IUR Expands Global Partnerships

New collaborations in Brazil and Barcelona connect Penn IUR research and global networks with efforts to finance more resilient, sustainable cities.

This summer, the Penn Institute for Urban Research (Penn IUR) launched two international partnerships that expand its work on climate resilience, governance, and sustainable urban finance.

The first partnership was initiated during Local Climate Action Week in Porto Alegre, Brazil with Coalizão RS, a multi-stakeholder platform bringing together government, academia, the private sector, philanthropy, and civil society. It establishes a technical cooperation agreement to strengthen climate resilience in Rio Grande do Sul. The Brazilian state has experienced unprecedented climate-related disasters in recent years, creating an urgent need for new approaches to adaptation, institutional preparedness, and investment. 

The second partnership establishes a three-year collaboration via Fira Barcelona with Smart City Expo World Congress (SCEWC). Smart City Expo World Congress (Barcelona, November 3-5) is the world’s biggest and most influential event for cities and urban innovation. The event is a premier venue where a diverse community of industry executives, government leaders, researchers, urban pioneers and entrepreneurs gather annually to address complex issues to move cities toward a brighter future.

Penn IUR Program Manager Delfina Vildosola traveled to Rio Grande do Sul in July to formalize the Coalizão RS partnership. In an interview with local media, she described the key challenge facing cities: while climate impacts occur locally, much of the international financial system is designed to provide financing only at the national level.

“Our partners in Porto Alegre are bringing financing solutions to different entities and localities. They have been successful in developing an ecosystem of trust, in establishing partnerships and collaborations with all sectors, with exemplary transversality, articulating the philanthropic, academic, public, and private sectors so that each can provide different resources (intellectual, economic, technical) to advance resilience. Their strategic use of philanthropic resources to enable larger investments is very difficult to achieve and noteworthy,” she said.

The partnership will explore ways to bridge that gap, including innovative and blended finance mechanisms that combine public, private, philanthropic, and multilateral resources. Penn IUR and Coalizão RS will also collaborate on the Climate Resilience Observatory, governance and institutional capacity, and opportunities for joint research, publications, workshops, and knowledge exchange.

For Penn IUR, Coalizão RS also offers an opportunity to study an emerging model of collaborative climate governance.

“We are interested in better understanding the experience, the partnerships, the model, and how this can be replicated,” Vildasola remarked. 

The work comes with particular urgency as communities face both the costs and opportunities of the energy transition.

“It's a bet on the future, but a future that can't wait, because climate change is already here,” Vildosola said. “The transition is a necessity, but it also has the opportunity to develop more efficient economic systems, without waste, and to develop productive chains.”

Both initiatives allow the expansion of Penn IUR's international engagement through its role as Secretariat to the United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN) Global Commission for SDG Urban Finance. 

For the Smart City Expo World Congress, the Commission Secretariat will serve as a Collaborating Organization for the 2026, 2027, and 2028 editions, beginning November 3–5, 2026, in Barcelona. The collaboration will connect the Commission’s work on financing sustainable urban development with SCEWC’s international network of city leaders, policymakers, researchers, and practitioners.

Both partnerships advance a common goal aimed at connecting local innovation with global expertise and developing practical approaches to help cities mobilize the resources they need to build a more resilient and sustainable future.