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As 2025 gets underway, efforts by cities to reduce congestion, address air pollution, improve housing access, and lower flooding risks are getting more attention than ever. These initiatives matter to more than 4 billion people who live in urban centers worldwide, and also have enormous consequences for the planet and global environmental goals.
Urbanization has historically driven biodiversity loss and land degradation by converting natural habitats into built environments, fragmenting ecosystems, introducing invasive species, and increasing pollution. However, this is not the only path. In cities, people, nature, and the built environment are closely connected, and investments in nature can have large-scale impacts that improve lives and ramp up resilience. When municipal and sub-national government leaders focus on green, resilient, and inclusive urban development, cities can move from being drivers of nature loss and generators of pollution to becoming vital engines of solutions at scale.
This important role was highlighted across the major international environmental summits last year, and will continue to be a focus as countries work towards 2030 goals on the approaching horizon.
At the Convention of Biological Diversity’s sixteenth Conference of the Parties (COP) in Cali, Colombia, there was significant attention on the transformative power of cities in protecting biodiversity, including through Target 12 of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, focused on enhancing green spaces and urban planning for human well-being and biodiversity. Some 128 mayors and more than 1,200 delegates from cities and regional authorities participated in COP16 in Cali, demonstrating strong local-level ambition to protect nature through events like the 8th Summit for Subnational Governments and Cities and the First Meeting of the Mayors Forum on Urban Nature and Biodiversity, organized by the World Bank, ICLEI, and UNEP with support from the GEF.
At the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change’s COP29 in Baku, Azerbaijan, more than 500 city delegates, including 100 political leaders from subnational governments, joined discussions on how to advance city and region climate goals to combat climate change. A Declaration on Multisectoral Actions Pathway was announced which seeks to advance action to build climate-resilient, sustainable, and healthy cities, building on the prior year’s CHAMP initiative, now endorsed by 72 countries, aiming to enhance climate action cooperation between different levels of governments. The third Ministerial Meeting on Urbanization and Climate Change during COP29 also emphasized the vital role of cities in addressing the climate crisis while focusing on their unique challenges. The UNFCCC’s Paris Agreement identifies the critical role of local governments in addressing climate change and many countries' national targets include sector-based commitments relevant to urban areas and subnational authorities.
In Riyadh, the UN Convention to Combat Desertification’s COP16 included a Mayors’ Forum, which emphasized the importance of cooperation between urban and rural authorities and the role of local governments in combating desertification, land degradation, and drought. Additionally, the 12th World Urban Forum in Cairo, Egypt, organized by UN-Habitat, helped reinforce commitments to infuse sustainability in urban growth planning and solutions. Participants in Cairo highlighted the need to improve multi-level governance, focus on urban systems and spatial planning, and increase access to municipal finance, while also emphasizing the need for inclusion and equitable urban growth. The Cairo Call to Action released after the event stressed that local action is essential to tackle the climate and nature crises and to build equitable and resilient cities.
Looking ahead, the Global Environment Facility will continue to emphasize the power and potential of cities, including through its Sustainable Cities program, first launched during the GEF-6 cycle with subsequent funding in GEF-7 and GEF-8. The program now covers more than 90 cities in 33 countries, advancing integrated solutions related to land use planning, nature-based solutions, waste management, sustainable transport and energy, and green housing. Several cities are making significant strides towards sustainability with support from the GEF.
For example, in Chennai, India, the restoration of Kadapakkam Lake is enhancing flood resilience and creating recreational spaces enhancing human wellbeing and benefitting migratory birds which use the lake as an important resting place in their flyway. Asunción, Paraguay, involved citizens in designing a 600 km bike network and to ensure successful waste segregation and dumpsite cleaning to create green spaces. San José, Costa Rica, has focused on integrated urban planning and the creation of protected areas and circular business models. Freetown, Sierra Leone, has deployed Treetracker and QGIS digital tools to promote urban tree plantation, improve air quality, control urban heat, and reduce landslide risks. Kigali, Rwanda, is using GEF support to rehabilitate wetlands to reduce flooding, support native ecosystems, and create green jobs.
In total, $480 million in GEF grants and nearly $5 billion in co-financing has been invested to power initiatives like these around the world, supporting national and global climate and nature goals and generating socio-economic benefits. The Sustainable Cities program’s global knowledge and coordination platform is also helping to raise urban sustainability ambitions and connect cities with each other through the Global Platform for Sustainable Cities and UrbanShift initiatives.
In the next four-year funding cycle, GEF-9, sustainable urban growth and infrastructure development will continue to be a key focus, aiming to accelerate financial flows to cities and ensuring that cities are adequately reflected and prioritized in national targets such as Nationally Determined Contributions and National Biodiversity Strategies and Action Plans. The world’s cities are full of promise and efforts to improve and invest in them have enormous potential for nature as well as people.
