Why greening our cities is key to unlocking $29 trillion worth of investment

The urgency of addressing climate change has been made clear by a recent report issued by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. The report warns that even at 1.5°C warming, the planet will experience irreversible catastrophic climate effects.

To change this trajectory, we must work at a speed and scale without precedent. This will require prioritizing areas that offer possibilities of combining our fight against climate change with sound investment opportunities.

Cities are one such area. The magnitude of investment required to meet the growing infrastructure and services needs of cities – and ensuring this is climate-smart – far exceeds available public budgets. The private sector will therefore need to play a paramount role in helping shape greener growth for the cities of tomorrow.

Cities are on the rise as the world population grows rapidly: today, more than half of the global population lives in urban areas, a figure expected to rise to 60% by 2030. Cities consume over two-thirds of the world’s energy and account for more than 70% of global carbon dioxide emissions, making them critical to efforts to limit global warming. The concentration of people and infrastructure also makes cities particularly vulnerable to climate change.