Tag: Finance and Economic Development

Better, more productive models of urban development are critical for rapidly growing cities in the developing world, and in Africa in particular. How African cities assimilate the 22 million people that will be added to their number every year for the next three decades will determine the continent’s prospects. Africa’s urban population is set to triple between 2010 and 2050, reaching 1.34 billion people. The trend is fastest in East and West Africa - the population of Lagos is expected to top 25 million in the next 15 years – but common to all regions.

Today, New Climate Economy released new research showing that investing in smart cities has the potential to generate savings of US $17 trillion by 2050, while cutting greenhouse gas emissions by 3.7 Gt CO2e per year by 2030 – more than the current annual emissions of India.

The City of Portland, Oregon is aiming to use green bonds as a financing tool to deliver the city’s sustainability goals. Green bonds can underwrite the infrastructure needed to reduce carbon emissions and become more resilient to the effects of climate change.

Over the last few years, the market for municipal green bonds has been burgeoning in cities around the world, as a way for them to pay for infrastructure such as energy, water and transportation systems. Yet cities have had to independently navigate the often complex process of issuing green bonds…until now.

Today, the C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group (C40) and strategic funding partner the Children’s Investment Fund Foundation (CIFF) launched a new Creditworthiness Network that will help eight cities achieve a credit rating in order to finance climate-related projects. The programme will kick-off with a Creditworthiness Academy in Amman, Jordan – a five-day workshop hosted by the Greater Amman Municipality and delivered in partnership with the World Bank.