Improving Local Enabling Conditions for Private Sector Climate Investments in Cities

The report identifies barriers to private urban climate investments across macro, city, and project levels, while highlighting success factors such as supportive regulatory frameworks and transparent working practices. It provides targeted recommendations for city governments, national governments, international finance institutions, and private/third sector partners to enhance project preparation, risk mitigation, and capacity development to enable bankable climate investments in emerging economies.

• Barriers to private urban climate investments are categorized into three levels: the macro level (macroeconomic, institutional, and policy contexts), the city level (policy-making, planning, capacity, and financial/asset management), and the project level (project design, structuring, sector maturity, and technology readiness).
• Analysis of five case studies in emerging economies reveals that success in accessing private sector finance depends on clear policy frameworks at the macro level, transparent practices and risk reduction at the city level, and strong stakeholder coordination and innovative implementation at the project level.
• The report recommends that city governments prioritize procuring services over 'hardware' and streamline planning and finance processes to improve project preparation.
• Recommendations for other stakeholders include national governments providing standardized green finance instruments, international finance institutions focusing on risk mitigation and additionality, and financial entities shifting portfolios toward climate action through aggregation and co-investment.

APA

Apostolovic, M., Le Cornu, E., Masale, E., Maskrey, R., Schuler, N., & Teipelke, R. (2023). Improving Local Enabling Conditions for Private Sector Climate Investments in Cities. Climate Policy Initiative. https://www.climatepolicyinitiative.org/publication/improving-local-enabling-conditions-for-private-sector-climate-investments-in-cities/

Chicago

Apostolovic, Milica, Emily Le Cornu, Eyerusalem Masale, Rebecca Maskrey, Nina Schuler, and Renard Teipelke. Improving Local Enabling Conditions for Private Sector Climate Investments in Cities. Climate Policy Initiative, 2023. https://www.climatepolicyinitiative.org/publication/improving-local-enabling-conditions-for-private-sector-climate-investments-in-cities/.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Apostolovic |first1=Milica |last2=Le Cornu |first2=Emily |last3=Masale |first3=Eyerusalem |last4=Maskrey |first4=Rebecca |last5=Schuler |first5=Nina |last6=Teipelke |first6=Renard |title=Improving Local Enabling Conditions for Private Sector Climate Investments in Cities |publisher=Climate Policy Initiative |date=2 June 2023 |url=https://www.climatepolicyinitiative.org/publication/improving-local-enabling-conditions-for-private-sector-climate-investments-in-cities/ |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{apostolovic2023improving, author = {Apostolovic, Milica and Le Cornu, Emily and Masale, Eyerusalem and Maskrey, Rebecca and Schuler, Nina and Teipelke, Renard}, title = {{Improving Local Enabling Conditions for Private Sector Climate Investments in Cities}}, institution = {Climate Policy Initiative}, year = {2023}, month = jun, url = {https://www.climatepolicyinitiative.org/publication/improving-local-enabling-conditions-for-private-sector-climate-investments-in-cities/}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }