Each week some three million people are moving into cities1.
Rapidly growing urban populations and the worsening impacts of climate change are putting pressure on cities' services, infrastructure, and finances. In fact, just 16% of cities are able to self-fund the sustainable infrastructure projects needed to advance their low-carbon, resilient city agendas2 . As such the appetite for collaboration with private sector partners is high.
Global cities seeking finance
According to the 620 cities that reported through CDP in 2018, 60% of cities are now engaged in voluntary partnerships with the private sector on sustainability projects.
What’s more, these cities have some 1,040 sustainability projects, representing over US$60 billion of investment, in the pipeline.
Around 300 of these projects relate to renewable energy and energy efficiency – unsurprising when we see more and more global cities now setting bold targets to achieve net zero carbon cities by 2050. Among these are London, Copenhagen, Los Angeles, Montreal, New York City, Paris, San Jose, Stockholm, Sydney and Tokyo.
Barriers to investment
Despite this clear appetite for increased collaboration, a recent report by CDP and C40’s City Finance Facility (CFF) in collaboration with the Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate and Energy showed that many of these city projects are slow to get off the ground. In fact, one third of projects remain in the preliminary or scoping stage and require project preparation and access to the private sector.
This suggests that cities need further support. So, what’s standing in their way? There is still no clear pathway for information to flow between cities and potential investors representing a barrier to these potential partnerships.
Smart matches for cities reporting to CDP
At CDP we want to break down these barriers. Uniquely placed within our wider ecosystem of over 650 investors with assets of US$87 trillion, and over 6,800 companies so far in 2018, cities that participate in CDP are able to connect with other stakeholders who also benefit from working with cities to drive down emissions.
In 2017, we worked with our strong city and investor networks, in partnership with Climate-KIC, to launch Matchmaker - a clearinghouse for cities to showcase planned projects to the finance sector and better position them to mitigate against and adapt to climate change.
Projects showcased through the Matchmaker platform include flood controls, waste management, sustainable transportation, renewable energy, water management, and energy efficiency.
Matchmaker bridges the divide between cities and potential investors through project information disclosure. To identify potential projects, CDP uses cities’ responses and invites cities with potential projects to participate and submit additional project information.
Learnings from London
Disclosing to CDP doesn’t just offer cities access to investors, however. Increasingly we are seeing partnerships between private sector businesses and local authorities which have the potential to accelerate the pace of emissions-reductions actions in cities.
Take London for example. Some 40% of city’s emissions come from workplaces. Achieving the city’s aim to be carbon neutral by 2050 would be impossible without private sector collaboration.
Our London Business Climate Leaders project - a collaboration between CDP, C40, The B Team and the Greater London Authority with the support of We Mean Business – aims to address this. Launched in September 2018 it brings together 11 leading London business including Tesco, Sky and Siemens in partnership with the office of the Mayor of London and the Greater London Authority.
Through public commitments on renewable energy, zero carbon buildings, waste reduction and air pollution, these companies are taking action to support the British capital’s ambitious targets.
The next phase of the project will see a new wave of companies with operations in London joining the project and committing to reducing emissions, showing how the nimble and agile nature of the private sector can support ambitious city action.
Scaling change through collaboration
Home to some 50% of the global population, cities are hubs of innovation and technologies that will form the basis of the sustainable economy of the future.
It is through collaboration within and across cities, by joining up with global investors and businesses that we will see this change accelerated and replicated. These solutions spread across the globe that will make this truly sustainable economy a reality.
Is your city looking for investment on sustainability projects? Are you keen to develop public/private partnerships?
Learn more about CDP’s cities work
Find out more about CDP’s cities work here
Find out more about the Matchmaker project and submit a project intake form here.
Find out more about our London Business Climate Leaders project here.
1 Duncan, H. and I. Popp (2017) ‘Migrants and Cities: Stepping Beyond World Migration Report 2015’, in IOM (2017) World Migration Report 2018, IOM: Geneva.
2 Black & Veatch Strategic Directions . (2018). 'Smart Cities & Utilities Report' . Black and Veatch Corporation.