Climate Action host key resilient cities event on eve of Climate Week
Financing Resilient Cities was presented by The Gold Standard Foundation, ICLEI – Local Governments for Sustainability, WWF’s Earth City Challenge and Green Infrastructure Basel at Soho House, New York City
Climate Action hosted a key event on the eve of Climate Week 2014 on Sunday which brought together UN bodies, government representatives, leading financial institutions and NGO’s to promote investment for low carbon urban development.
Financing Resilient Cities was presented by The Gold Standard Foundation, ICLEI – Local Governments for Sustainability, WWF’s Earth City Challenge and Green Infrastructure Basel at Soho House, New York City.
The high level evening, fittingly hosted in one of the most populous cities in the world, focussed on how investment can be effectively mobilised to support integrated, and socially responsible, low carbon urban development programmes that can be replicated worldwide.
Speakers included Carina Borgström Hansson Phd, Director, WWF’s Earth Hour City Challenge; Hans-Peter Egler, Appointed CEO, Global Infrastructure Basel; George Ferguson, City Mayor, Bristol; Projjal Dutta, Director of Sustainability at NY MTA; Adrian Rimmer, Chief Executive Officer at the Gold Standard Foundation and Claire Poole, Director of Climate Action.
Attendees included city leaders from Nantes, Bristol and Bonn, as well as financiers from the European Investment Bank (EIB), Morgan Stanley and the World Bank.
Organisations such as the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group, the World Health Organisation (WHO), CDP and the Rockefeller Foundation also attended.
Keynote speakers and networking discussions highlighted the factors needed to secure investment, using examples to demonstrate the work cities are already implementing to become more sustainable and resilient.
In the last two years, over 100 million people globally have migrated to cities and by 2050, they will house up to three quarters of the worlds population.
As such, the role of cities in climate mitigation and adaptation is crucial; however climate finance has largely failed to reach these ever growing urban environments.
The sixth Climate Week NYC, from September 22-28, is the collaborative space for all events in support of the UN Climate Summit and will see over 120 events, activities and high-profile meetings taking place across the city.
Ban Ki-moon, the UN Secretary-General, will host the summit on Tuesday with the intention of gaining support for the UNFCCC COP21 summit in Paris in late 2015 when a binding deal is expected to be finalised to slow rising greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.
On Sunday, Ban joined over 600,000 demonstrators who took to the streets around the world for the People’s Climate March in what is being billed as the biggest march on climate change ever.
2,646 rallies and events took place in 156 countries with major marches taking place in London, Melbourne, New Delhi and Rio de Janeiro ahead of the summit at the UN headquarters in New York.
