Our role is to help protect cities and their ecosystems from the impacts of climate change. That entails decarbonizing cities by achieving low carbon energy, transports, infrastructures and buildings. That also means supporting cities and communities to adapt to a changing climate, preserve ecosystems that make cities thrive.

Examples:

• We help countries and cities develop Low Carbon Plans for integrated urban mobility, energy and waste management services through the “Urban Pathways - Supporting Low Carbon Plans for Urban Basic Services in the context of the New Urban Agenda” project in India, Kenya, Vietnam and Brazil (read more).
• At the same time, with a range of partners, we develop concrete pilot projects for upscaling, such as electric rickshaws in Kochi (India), or pedestrian zones in Belo Horizonte (Brazil) and Nairobi (Kenya).
• We are constantly engaged in the adaptation and promotion of alternative durable building materials. Buildings and constructions account for more than one-quarter of all greenhouse gas emissions, through greenfield development, cement production, and the burning of fossil fuels such as oil, gas, and coal for construction purposes.
• We work through networks such as the Global Platform for Sustainable Housing and contributes to practical tools such as Sherpa, a user-friendly participatory application to self-assess the sustainability of housing projects.
• Through the Global Water Operators Partnership, we are promoting better climate-proof operations of utilities that also serve poor communities (read more).

We help restore ecosystems in cities to foster sustainable healthy urban areas where communities can thrive. That entails tackling urban wastes, bringing back clean air, promoting nature-based solutions using blue and green networks. Finally, a large part of our action is about building back better after climate disasters.

Examples:

• More than 100 cities are engaged in our Waste Wise City campaign committed to assess their quantity and type of waste, improving waste collection, ensuring environmental safety, and implementing waste-to-energy schemes. (read more)

• We support countries after climate disasters such as in Mozambique after the 2019 hurricane to plan and rebuild infrastructures in targeted urban areas. Almost 1,100 classrooms were rehabilitated or re-built using a mix of conventional and local building materials by this project. (read more)
• We support city planning and design such as in Belmopan, Belize using green and blue network approaches. (read more)
• We support cities monitoring air pollution linking to the decarbonization of transports. We have supported African cities (Nairobi, Ruiru and Addis Abeba) assess the effectiveness of pedestrianization and cycling on air pollution. (read more)

We help cities thrive, that is reap the benefits of ambitious climate action in cities and communities. This means generating livelihoods from the new green economy in cities and communities, building climate resilience of the most vulnerable communities. It is also planning and designing integrated, connected and vibrant cities, as well as ensuring the health of urban communities in safer and cleaner cities.

Examples:

• We possess unique skills to work with communities on the ground with some 30 years of experience. We instill pro-poor climate action in local communities through the global Participatory Slum Upgrading Programme and in key projects in Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Fiji, Jamaica, and the Solomon Islands. (read more).
• We promote people centered and driven solutions to the climate change emergency, working closely with youth leaders who can help communities focus on the most marginalized young women, indigenous people and those living in the Global South.
• With the Technical Centre for Disaster Risk Management, Sustainability and Urban Resilience (DiMSUR), we have developed the City Resilience Action Planning, or CityRAP, to facilitate resilience planning at the city level in Sub-Saharan Africa. For instance, it helped support displaced communities after Cyclone Idai which severely impacted Mozambique in 2019.  Those experiences are currently replicated in Carribean Small Island Developing States.
• Our new flagship initiative Building the Climate Resilience of the Urban Poor aims to support 150 million vulnerable slum-dwellers to adapt to climate change through climate smart resilient spatial planning, infrastructure improvement and enhancing livelihoods. Lead by the Governments of Kenya and Brazil it engages 16 partner organizations meant to work in 140 hotspots cities in 50 developing countries. (read more)

We need to manage and fund the above to support countries, cities and communities to plan and implement integrated and inclusive climate action. We support local governments to better plan and design climate-proof, integrated, connected and vibrant cities. We also help promoting constructive partnerships between all levels of governments and sectors towards ambitious climate action plans and projects. We build capacity of all stakeholders to confront climate change challenges. Finally, we mobilize climate funding to implement catalytic projects.

Examples:

• We help mobilize funds to support building resilience and adapting the most vulnerable communities. In partnership with the Adaptation Fund we have mobilized US$ 45 Million for countries in Asia-Pacific and Africa (Lao, Fiji, Solomon Islands, Mongolia, South-eastern Africa), with additional projects close to finalization for a total of about US$ 82 Million.
• Through the Urban-LEDS project, in partnership with ICLEI, we help countries make their fair contribution towards limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees, while preparing towns and cities for the impacts of 2,3 or even 4 degrees. We are supporting more than 60 cities in Bangladesh, Colombia, Lao PDR, Rwanda Brazil, India, Indonesia and South Africa (read more).
• Through Planners for Climate Action (P4CA), a collaborative initiative that we lead, Climate Action Studios can support planning departments to define adaptation needs, approaches, and catalytic projects. The first Studio took place in Zanzibar, a small island at threat of the heavy impacts of climate change (read more).
• In Kenya, we supported a Mobility Start Up Accelerator, in which seven early-stage businesses proposing low carbon mobility solutions were trained and prepared for scale-up. (read more).