By Kate Godding, Programme Manager, Business and Innovation at C40
After a very exciting and successful 18 months for C40’s City Solutions Platform, C40 now welcomes Athens as the next city to receive support from the programme.
Public-private innovation is rapidly developing in many global economies and the objective of new and improved solutions for climate challenges is needed, especially considering the urgent and ambitious targets that cities face. The goal for the City Solutions Platform is to convene solution providers from a range of different industries, academic institutions, and NGOs to co-create solutions to key climate challenges in cities.
Through the City Solutions Platform, Athens aims to create and implement collaborative public-private sector innovations to ensure resilience in the face of their urban heat island effect. By enabling collaboration across sectors, the City Solutions Platform will empower the City of Athens to co-create climate solutions safely and effectively with different innovators whilst becoming a global thought leader on climate adaptation solutions. This programme builds upon Athens’ long-standing efforts to research climate adaptation solutions that will mitigate the impact of climate change on the city.
The City of Athens is also interested in any solutions that cater to their local communities, and create a strong commercial environment within the city.
Since the inception of the City Solutions Platform in March 2016, C40 has formed a delivery partnership with CLEAN, Denmark’s leading cleantech cluster, and delivered climate solutions in Seattle, Melbourne, Rio de Janeiro and Sydney. From a C40 perspective, the City Solutions Platform is a key programme in delivering our Deadline 2020 vision, which emphasizes the need for cities to work with the private sector and others in order to achieve the goals of the Paris Agreement.
City staff in Seattle, Melbourne, Rio de Janeiro and Sydney worked alongside a broad range of solutions providers on inspiring and impactful climate solutions. By collaborating across sectors, participants in the City Solutions Platform were able to build a shared understanding of the nature of the climate problems faced by various cities. This then enabled the platform to develop advanced, best-practice solutions that are being implemented in each city.
The City Solutions Platform acts as a catalyst for stronger partnerships between global cities and leading sustainable solution providers, while remaining neutral and fair.
Nik Midlam, the Carbon Strategy Manager for the City of Sydney said of the platform: “The CSP was a key influencing factor in forming strategic relationships and partnerships.”
Evan Corey, Programme Manager from the Department of Transportation in the City of Seattle, agreed, adding that “the CSP has generated a lot of interest in this space.”
We look forward to seeing the outcomes from the City of Athens’ involvement in the programme! If you would like to be involved in the Athens City Solutions Platform, please contact kgodding@c40.org.