THE LOCAL BUSINESS CASE FOR CLIMATE ACTION

The paper identifies five key levers—power and leadership, communication and engagement, capacity building, financing implementation, and demonstration effect—essential for successful climate action in cities. Drawing on seven CDKN-supported projects across Asia, Africa, and Latin America, it argues that city governments face significant barriers, including short political cycles, fragmented governance, and limited financial resources. The framework serves as a checklist for donors and practitioners to create investable and implementable climate propositions, highlighting the importance of local champions, tailored business cases, and cross-city collaboration to scale successful interventions like India's Heat Action Plans.

• Cities are critical to global climate efforts as they occupy only 3% of Earth's land but account for 60-80% of energy consumption and 75% of carbon emissions.
• Effective climate action in cities is often hindered by political and governance barriers, such as short mayoral terms and the centralization of power in national governments over energy and infrastructure.
• The 'Power and Leadership' lever emphasizes the need for strategic advocates within city governments, such as the Nodal Officer in Ahmedabad, to coordinate across agencies and maintain momentum despite political changes.
• To generate a strong business case for action, practitioners must provide tailored, city-specific evidence of cumulative impacts on the local economy, infrastructure, and human capital.
• Capacity building must address significant gaps in analytical capabilities, such as climate risk assessment and low-carbon planning, often by leveraging partnerships with universities and research organizations.
• Financing for city-level climate action is challenging because funds are rarely redistributed from national to city levels, requiring cities to seek innovative sources including the Green Climate Fund, private sector CSR, and impact investment.
• The 'Demonstration Effect' allows successful local projects to be scaled up; for example, Ahmedabad's Heat Action Plan was replicated across 17 cities and 11 states in India.
• In Uganda, an economic assessment showed that the cost of inaction regarding climate change was 20 times greater than the cost of adaptation, providing a strong economic argument for mainstreaming adaptation in infrastructure planning.

APA

Green, Z., Fitzgerald, L., & Norton, C. (2017). THE LOCAL BUSINESS CASE FOR CLIMATE ACTION. Climate and Development Knowledge Network. https://cdkn.org/sites/default/files/files/CDKN_The-local-business-case-for-climate-action_Web-final.pdf

Chicago

Green, Zoe, Lizzy Fitzgerald, and Connie Norton. THE LOCAL BUSINESS CASE FOR CLIMATE ACTION. Climate and Development Knowledge Network, 2017. https://cdkn.org/sites/default/files/files/CDKN_The-local-business-case-for-climate-action_Web-final.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Green |first1=Zoe |last2=Fitzgerald |first2=Lizzy |last3=Norton |first3=Connie |title=THE LOCAL BUSINESS CASE FOR CLIMATE ACTION |publisher=Climate and Development Knowledge Network |date=August 2017 |url=https://cdkn.org/sites/default/files/files/CDKN_The-local-business-case-for-climate-action_Web-final.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{green2017local, author = {Green, Zoe and Fitzgerald, Lizzy and Norton, Connie}, title = {{THE LOCAL BUSINESS CASE FOR CLIMATE ACTION}}, institution = {Climate and Development Knowledge Network}, year = {2017}, month = aug, url = {https://cdkn.org/sites/default/files/files/CDKN_The-local-business-case-for-climate-action_Web-final.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }