Today, the C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group (C40) and strategic funding partner the Children’s Investment Fund Foundation (CIFF) launched a new Creditworthiness Network that will help eight cities achieve a credit rating in order to finance climate-related projects. The programme will kick-off with a Creditworthiness Academy in Amman, Jordan – a five-day workshop hosted by the Greater Amman Municipality and delivered in partnership with the World Bank.
“Empowering cities economically – particularly those in developing countries – to take climate action will not only improve the lives of urban citizens, but also will help nations close the emissions gap on the Road to Paris and beyond,” said C40 Chair and Rio de Janeiro Mayor Eduardo Paes. “The C40 Creditworthiness Academy and Network will allow cities to access the capital needed to finance infrastructure projects to reduce both carbon emissions and climate risk.”
Lacking a credit rating poses a significant barrier to cities trying to attract low-cost capital to finance sustainable infrastructure projects. Many cities – including C40 cities – face this challenge. Research from the World Bank indicates that only 4 percent of cities in the world’s largest developing countries have an international credit rating – but that every dollar spent on improving city creditworthiness has the potential to unlock $100 in private sector infrastructure financing. Improved creditworthiness will help cities build a pipeline of low carbon infrastructure projects, thereby implementing emissions reductions that are part of national commitments for the 2015 COP21 in Paris.
The eight participating cities include Amman, Bangalore, Chennai, Curitiba, Dar es Salaam, Durban, Karachi, and Kolkata. With support and guidance from international experts, these cities will learn how they can become creditworthy, identify the issues they need to address and develop action plans to achieve an investment-grade credit rating to support low-carbon and sustainable development.
Funding for the Creditworthiness Academy was provided by CIFF, which also contributed significantly to the costs of running the C40 Creditworthiness Network for the next two years.
To read the full press release, click here.