In spite of the significant efforts made in the past years, there is still a huge gap between the availability and accessibility of finance for climate friendly urban projects. Mostly due to political, technical and financial constraints, sub-national governments are often unable to access the finance they would need to design infrastructure projects, which helps in their path towards a net zero emission and climate resilient development. This session aims to showcase successful projects with high transformative impact potential and through a peer-exchange exercise empower local governments to develop projects with partners that are more likely to attract finance, considering the challenges and barriers they may face.

With the next call opening on the 13 of May 2022, this webinar focused on explaining the application and evaluation processes. Participants also had the opportunity to learn what are the key elements of a successful TAP application.

The TAP Asia-Africa Pitch Event focused on financing opportunities for urban development projects. To provide a better understanding of technical assistance and funding opportunities, first a panel of international financing institutions and project preparation facility providers gave an overview of existing sources and practical examples on how to access these. Following, eight TAP projects developers from Africa and Asia pitched their project to a jury composed by representatives from the finance sector. This served to help not only them, but also other project developers attending the event  to understand the gaps and weaknesses of the project concepts, and gain insights into the criteria and expectations of financial partners.

The key takeaways are available in English and French.

The session divided into three parts will give an insight: (i) First, local government representatives from Europe, South America and Africa sharing their challenges to secure finance. (ii) This will be followed by financial institution representatives showcasing the instruments they offer. (iii) Finally, the third moment will be an exchange between the local governments and financial experts discussing how to improve collaboration and upscale action, allowing cities to accelerate their climate ambition.

At this event, the Cities Climate Finance Leadership Alliance, C40 Cities Finance Facility, GIZ, ICLEI – Local Governments for Sustainability, and the World Climate Foundation will share  success stories on how to best leverage public and private finance to unlock the trillions of financing needed over the next decade for low-carbon, climate-resilient infrastructure in cities.

This session will give a brief introduction to the Aligned Indicators for Sustainable Infrastructure (AISI) tool, developed by the World Bank in partnership with the Global Infrastructure Basel Foundation, using a TAP project to illustrate how to apply it.