This paper is a background review representing part of the initial phase of the Financing the Urban Transition work programme. The review builds on a growing body of research that highlights both the importance of national sustainable infrastructure and the need to develop more effective and efficient financing mechanisms for delivering compact, connected cities that meet the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals. While progress has been made in both these areas over the last five years, there remains a policy gap between the international/national level and the municipal level.
Achieving climate and development goals without the full backing of business and investors is not possible. Fortunately, evidence shows that more and more businesses and investors are taking a lead – and saving costs and making money in the process. e Green Jobs Advantage:
This paper supplements the findings from Achieving Uganda’s Development Ambition: The Economic Impact of Green Growth – An Agenda for Action, to provide a fuller elaboration of the urbanisation elements that will support Uganda’s green growth. Global evidence demonstrates that a national urban transition can support better urban growth through compact urban growth, connected urban infrastructure and coordinated urban governance.
India is experiencing an urban transformation. Given the rapidity of change and the long-lived nature of urban form and infrastructure, the decisions that India’s policymakers take in the next 5–15 years will lock in its urban pathway for decades to come.
This paper provides a review of how compact, connected, and coordinated cities can help generate stronger growth, create jobs, alleviate poverty, and significantly reduce the cost of providing services and infrastructure.
The renewable energy sector in India will require $189 billion in additional investment to meet its goal of 175GW by 2022. Institutional investors have the potential to bridge this gap. This report finds that the potential for renewable energy investment in India is more than double the required amount, but the expected level falls short. Domestic and international investors have the greatest potential to address this but require a greater understanding of India’s renewable energy sector to better facilitate investment.
In urban infrastructure the investment decisions taken today will shape tomorrow. Despite the critical importance of infrastructure for urban development, financing to scale up smarter, more sustainable urban infrastructure remains an immense challenge, particularly in emerging and developing economies.
This report considers the complexities that underpin efforts to attract investment into sustainable infrastructure with a focus on project preparation. It reflects on experiences with project preparation support for infrastructure and potential shifts in approach needed to deliver the scale of investment required in sustainable infrastructure to achieve the SDGs and fulfil the goals of the Paris Agreement.
After the Paris agreement, many countries are looking to scale their investment in infrastructure that is socially inclusive, low carbon, and climate resilient. The huge quantity of investment required means that establishing the right conditions to attract private-sector investment is critical. In this paper by the McKinsey Center for Business and Environment, the authors highlight the major barriers that must be overcome and the ways to encourage more capital investment in sustainable infrastructure. The paper determines that a “muscular set of nudges and risk-sharing instruments are required”.
Innovation is a fundamental engine of long-term economic growth, and a critical driver for reducing emissions and tackling climate risk. There is a need to scale up innovation efforts to reduce emissions cost-effectively beyond 2030 consistent with limiting dangerous climate change, in particular through supporting research, development and demonstration (RD&D) for technologies which have not yet been deployed at scale and are unlikely to without strong government support.
