Going to town: How the Green Climate Fund can support a paradigm shift in cities

This report examines how the Green Climate Fund (GCF) can better support urban areas in achieving a paradigm shift toward low-emission and climate-resilient development. It identifies significant barriers facing cities—particularly in the developing world—including limited technical capacity, restricted access to international finance, and high fiduciary requirements. The authors propose three primary access modalities for GCF funding: utilizing unconventional implementing entities, accrediting cities as implementing entities themselves, and employing an Enhanced Direct Access (EDA) approach, potentially through a National City Facility.

• Cities are critical to climate action because they house the majority of the global population and are responsible for over 70% of energy-related greenhouse gas emissions.
• Many cities in the developing world, especially second-tier cities, lack the technical, institutional, and financial capacity to turn transformative local solutions into bankable project concepts or to mainstream climate goals into urban planning.
• Cities face significant barriers to direct funding because they are often not viewed as creditworthy by investors due to limited budget control and poor revenue collection, and international funds like the GCF have historically relied on national-level entry points.
• The World Bank estimates that low and middle income countries need more than US$ 1 trillion annually to close the climate infrastructure gap, with 50% of that cost occurring in urban areas.
• The report suggests that the GCF can improve urban impact by accrediting 'unconventional' implementing entities (IEs), such as health or social development ministries and civil society organisations, which may have better knowledge of local needs than traditional multilateral banks.
• While the GCF governing instrument allows cities to become accredited implementing entities, no city has yet achieved this due to a lack of direct access modalities and high fiduciary and safeguard requirements.
• An Enhanced Direct Access (EDA) approach could be used to create a 'National City Facility' that allows cities to independently develop project proposals and apply for funding through a national implementing entity.
• The authors recommend that the GCF focus on secondary cities, offer a full range of financial instruments (grants, loans, guarantees, and equity), and avoid competing with development banks that handle large-scale infrastructure.

APA

Junghans, L., Eckstein, D., Kreft, S., Syberg, M., & Weischer, L. (2016). Going to town: How the Green Climate Fund can support a paradigm shift in cities. Climate and Development Knowledge Network. http://cdkn.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/Going-to-Town_final.pdf

Chicago

Junghans, Lisa, David Eckstein, Sönke Kreft, Marie Syberg, and Lutz Weischer. Going to town: How the Green Climate Fund can support a paradigm shift in cities. Climate and Development Knowledge Network, 2016. http://cdkn.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/Going-to-Town_final.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Junghans |first1=Lisa |last2=Eckstein |first2=David |last3=Kreft |first3=Sönke |last4=Syberg |first4=Marie |last5=Weischer |first5=Lutz |title=Going to town: How the Green Climate Fund can support a paradigm shift in cities |publisher=Climate and Development Knowledge Network |date=April 2016 |url=http://cdkn.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/Going-to-Town_final.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{junghans2016going, author = {Junghans, Lisa and Eckstein, David and Kreft, Sönke and Syberg, Marie and Weischer, Lutz}, title = {{Going to town: How the Green Climate Fund can support a paradigm shift in cities}}, institution = {Climate and Development Knowledge Network}, year = {2016}, month = apr, url = {http://cdkn.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/Going-to-Town_final.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }