The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has launched a new initiative to provide direct advisory support to help cities across Asia and the Pacific to meet their climate resilience goals while improving their infrastructure and urban services.

The Creating Investable Cities initiative, unveiled at the World Cities Summit in Singapore, will provide hands-on advisory support and capacity-building resources to 20 cities in Asia and the Pacific in the initial phase.

The initiative will support these partner cities in mainstreaming climate resilience into their policies and projects, developing local resources mobilisation strategies, and improve their access to private sector finance.

According to ADB, collaborations with Makassar, Indonesia; Penang, Malaysia; Tbilisi, Georgia, and Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia are underway.

Each of these cities is seeking leapfrog solutions to help them to decarbonise their electricity grid, green their built environment, improve urban mobility including through electric vehicles, transition to a circular economy, conserve water, and enhance their urban service delivery and asset management through smart and integrated planning and investment.

Before the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, ADB estimated that Asia Pacific needs to raise almost US$1.7 trillion per year to close its infrastructure gap, US$200 billion of which should come from the private sector.

“Cities are the front lines in the fight against climate change, especially as the world looks to recover and rebuild from the pandemic.

 

The Creating Investable Cities initiative provides practical and end-to-end advisory service to policymakers, allowing them to tap directly into ADB’s expertise and finance.”

said Ashok Lavasa, Vice-President for Private Sector Operations and Public-Private Partnerships at ADB.

“Cities cannot continue on a business-as-usual approach if they want to meet their climate targets.

 

The CIC initiative will help cities to mainstream climate into their urban policymaking by leveraging ADB’s climate, urban, and governance expertise and by mobilising partnerships for knowledge transfer and capacity building.”

said Bruno Carrasco, Director General of ADB’s Sustainable Development and Climate Change Department.