What do sustainable cities mean to you? For many, it is about more than just green spaces and clean air. Sustainable cities are the nexus where innovative solutions converge to create resilient communities, fostering a delicate balance between economic prosperity, ecological integrity, and social equity. With urban sprawl encroaching upon natural habitats and climate change-induced disasters becoming more frequent, which pose threats to ecosystems, biodiversity, human health, and overall well-being, the need for building sustainable cities has never been more urgent, and the stakes couldn't be higher. Amidst these planetary challenges lies an opportunity to catalyze transformational changes in cities – the Sustainable Cities Program.
Created by the Global Environment Facility in 2016, the Sustainable Cities Program has been spearheading efforts towards low carbon, and a greener, more resilient future. Since its inception, it has transitioned through three different phases – the GEF-6 Sustainable Cities Integrated Approach Pilot, the GEF-7 Sustainable Cities Impact Program (UrbanShift), and the GEF-8 Sustainable Cities Integrated Program, which was recently approved at the 67th GEF Council meeting. With the latest approval, 90+ cities across 34 countries have benefited from the GEF grant financing total of $480 million, and nearly $5 billion in co-financing has been mobilized.
The GEF’s Sustainable Cities Program pioneered the two-track programmatic and integrated approach:
- City-level Projects (or child projects), which includes a mix of large cities and small/secondary cities across Latin America and the Caribbean, Africa, Asia, and Europe, to implement integrated sustainability solutions with GEF grant funding.
- Global Platform as a global partnership and convening space for developing and sharing knowledge to promote integrated urban planning.
Map of GEF-8 Sustainable Cities Integrated Program countries. Image credit: Global Environment Facility
Insights from previous phases
Innovative solutions and integrated urban planning on the ground
Through country- and city-level projects, national governments are working together with urban partners – mayors, urban planners, non-governmental organizations, academia, and the private sector – to create innovative models for implementation of integrated sustainability solutions and investments. Below are examples of cities leading the way in implementing these innovative approaches:
- Recife in Brazil piloted filtering gardens that clean the water using plants on the riverbank. Due to the project's success, President Lula has expressed his interest in replicating the gardens in Sao Paulo.
- Asunción in Paraguay have taken a participatory approach when they co-designed 600 km of bicycle lanes in the metropolitan area together with local communities as technical experts. The network is connecting four cities with main historic attractions and green areas, encouraging a more active lifestyle for the citizens of Asunción.
- San José in Costa Rica is creating inter-urban biological corridors guided by a new decree of urban protected areas. A more coherent policy environment will help the city restore critical urban areas that build resilience of vulnerable urban populations and contributes to the mitigation of climate change.
- In Rwanda, wetlands play a critical role for the country’s climate resilience and rich biodiversity. However, rapid urbanization is starting to threaten these wetlands and reduce their size. The GEF project is working to restore wetlands in Kigali, which will act like natural water filters and stormwater buffers while also providing areas for recreational use. Thanks to a detailed topographic model using satellite data, Kigali is also being supported to track its environmental performance and monitor its land use change.
- Support for Sierra Leone’s capital Freetown is helping to rebuild urban forests and increase the vegetation coverage to prevent floods and landslides in affected areas, as a direct response to the 2017 landslide that caused many casualties. The GEF has also worked with Freetown to develop the city’s first ambitious Climate Action Strategy to help deliver on its commitment to the Paris Agreement.
- In several cities in China, sustainable mobility and transit-oriented development is driving compact, vibrant, and better-connected urban development, where citizens can meet their needs closer to home or just a short journey away with public transport. Shenzhen, Tianjin, and Ningbo have all favored a walkable, mixed-use development centered around transit hubs, to reverse urban sprawl and car dependency and create happier healthier communities.
- Chennai in India has among the lowest green cover ratios in the country. Here, the GEF project is working to restore the important Kadapakkam Lake. Re-vegetation projects and lakeside upgrades will incorporate recreational facilities with play areas and walking paths to meet the needs of women, children, and the elderly in a more inclusive way.
- Melaka in Malaysia is piloting a high-tech smart energy grid system with renewable energy, solar powered charging of electric vehicles, and battery energy storage. Another innovative aspect is the close collaboration with the private sector, which helps in building valuable know-how, technological capabilities, and suitable business models.
Knowledge sharing and capacity-building activities from GEF-6. Photos credit: Global Platform for Sustainable Cities
Unlocking urban potential: The power of knowledge sharing and capacity building
As part of the Sustainable Cities Integrated Approach Pilot, the Global Platform empowered cities through tailored capacity-building programs, such as city academies and regional workshops, and the delivery of 55+ knowledge and learning activities. For instance, recognizing the increasing importance of public-private partnerships (PPPs) in urban development, it organized training on municipal financing and creditworthiness and developed the Municipal Public-Private Partnerships Framework to provide a practical guide and set of tools to support municipalities in identifying, preparing, delivering, and managing PPP projects. Through these efforts, the Global Platform not only promoted knowledge sharing but also fostered a culture of capacity building and collaboration among cities, laying a solid foundation for continued progress and innovation.
In GEF-7, UrbanShift has expanded the capacity-building activities with Finance Academies and Urban Labs offering concrete trainings for city officials on themes such as electric vehicles, nature-based solutions, or how to access climate finance. With the implementation of this second phase well underway, the program is becoming a major global urban platform, focusing in particular on the challenges of the rapidly urbanizing Global South. UrbanShift created many knowledge products related to urban sustainability, such as the Guide for Global South Cities on Public-Private Collaboration to Accelerate Sustainable Urban Development.
Site visits as part of the Latin America Regional Forum in Belem, April 2024. Photo credit: UrbanShift
Embarking on a new chapter: Ambitions for the Sustainable Cities Integrated Program under GEF-8
The Sustainable Cities Integrated Program under GEF-8 will bring together more than 40 cities across 20 countries, with GEF grant financing of $170 million. Through two complementary components, the program will support cities and local governments in undertaking integrated urban planning, implementing policies, and investing in nature-positive, climate-resilient, and carbon-neutral urban development.
Embodying global partnership and collaboration. The program will be implemented by the World Bank as the lead agency in collaboration with nine GEF agencies (BOAD, DBSA, FAO, IADB, IUCN, UNDP, UNEP, UNIDO, and World Bank). By bringing together cities, implementing agencies, city networks, financial institutions, the private sector, civil society organizations, and research institutions through the Global Platform for Sustainable Cities, the program fosters transformation through designing and implementing innovative urban solutions, capacity building, and knowledge sharing.
Drawing on lessons learned from previous phases that reflect the heightened ambitions to shift cities towards a greener, more resilient future. After a series of online, in-person, and hybrid consultation meetings with strategic partners and stakeholders, the Sustainable Cities Integrated Program is shaped to target five levers that will help enable urban systems transformation in an integrated manner: (i) policy integration and coherence; (ii) financing and investment; (iii) urban innovation; (iv) partnerships; and (v) expanding knowledge to increase capacity.
Sustainable Cities Integrated Program Consultations in Brazil, Belem, April 2023. Photos credit: Global Environment Facility
Here's a snapshot of the blueprint:
Advance policy integration and coherence
Through the Child Projects and Global Platform, the program will engage political leadership across government levels, fostering coordinated actions in policy design and implementation. This approach will not only help realize global and national targets (e.g., climate, biodiversity, and inclusion targets) but also amplify the impact of local priorities.
Scale up financing and support the new generation of project investment
Experiences from previous phases underscored the critical need to streamline technical assistance into downstream investments and provide comprehensive support across the urban development value chain. The program will support a new generation of project investment by collaborating with multilateral development banks and international and domestic financial institutions to better integrate GEF technical assistance projects into their portfolios. It will also work with cities and the private sector to develop bankable projects and explore innovative financial instruments.
Promote urban innovation
Mainstreaming innovations across policy, technology, and finance dimensions, the program will identify opportunities to influence new policy development, bridging siloed areas and supporting ambitious sustainability standards. It will also explore and disseminate locally suitable decarbonization technologies, such as scenario analysis and modeling, and innovative financing mechanisms that also help contribute to global environmental benefits.
City officials, GEF agencies, and partners engaged in practical exercises on urban land use planning at the Regional Asia Forum in New Delhi, September 2023. Photo credit: UrbanShift
Deepen and broaden partnerships
Building upon its broad partnerships, the program will further deepen and broaden the networks to garner political support, institutionalize integrated approaches, and embed sustainability into decision making and policy frameworks on a global scale. Strategic engagement with the private sector and civil society organizations would be emphasized to foster inclusion, innovation, and scale.
Strengthen knowledge management and create global public goods
The program will prioritize knowledge management and production, collaborating with partners to create, share, and apply insights and innovative tools for city sustainability. Through capacity-building activities, cities will also be equipped with the necessary resources, expertise, and networks to address urban challenges effectively.
Through those pivotal levers, the Sustainable Cities Program will help transform our cities towards achieving the vision of a healthy planet for healthy people, where our cities are not just places we live but thriving hubs of innovation and prosperity in harmony with nature.
