A megacity collective to force action on climate change claims that action cannot be taken fast enough due to budget constraints.
James Alexander, director of the finance programme at the C40 network of cities committed to tackling climate change, said its 91 members would have used up their share of the “carbon budget” by 2025
The cash is devoted to holding global temperature rise to no more than 1.5 degrees Celsius.
The C40 group is working to “dramatically cut the curve” of planet-warming emissions from cities, which produce more than 70 percent of total global emissions, but they need better access to finance to help them do it, he said.
At a meeting in Barcelona this week on mobilising investment in clean infrastructure, he said: “Finance remains the biggest barrier,” Lack of cash “is causing these actions not to take place as rapidly as we need.”
Development banks and international climate funds should put more focus on cities in the projects they back, he added.
Stephen Hammer, manager for climate policy at the World Bank Group, said bank officials saw cities as a strong growth area and had been trying to identify urban opportunities.
The bank is currently supporting seven urban transport projects, for example, he said. They include the construction of a new metro line in Ecuador’s capital, Quito, and the development of a bus rapid transit corridor in Dakar, Senegal.
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