Private-public collaboration is essential to tackling the climate crisis and to catalyzing the transition to a sustainable economy.
Cities play a key role in this transition. Housing over half of the world’s population and hives of economic activity, they are ideal environments for demonstrating the power of private-public partnerships in mitigating climate change and adapting to its impacts.
Sustainable projects implemented in cities can be quickly scaled up and can have enormous global visibility and impact.
But deficits in public finance mean there is a need for private finance to fill the gap. Opportunities for the private sector to invest in sustainable infrastructure and emissions reductions activities in cities are enormous – resulting in substantial returns on investments.
In 2016, cities highlighted a total of 720 climate-related projects suitable for private sector investment in their annual disclosure to CDP, worth a combined US$26 billion. By the 2017 disclosure, that figure had grown to 1,045 projects, representing over US$52 billion across 362 cities.
To collect this vital data, CDP requests cities to answer a comprehensive questionnaire on how they are tackling the specific risks posed by climate change, their emissions reduction targets and opportunities for investment. More than 570 cities from 90 countries disclosed their climate data to CDP in 2017.
Private sector use of Cities data
At the recent meeting of the Mississippi River Cities & Towns Initiative (MRTCI), mayors from two dozen cities along the Mississippi river called for a national infrastructure proposal in light of recent damage caused by hurricanes.
At this meeting these cities announced a partnership with CDP to participate in the annual disclosure process and to showcase projects for investment that will grow Mississippi River resilience and sustainable development projects.
MRCTI Co-Chair, Mayor Coleman, of St. Paul, Minnesota said, “Instead of depending on federal money that may or may not materialize, or a federal infrastructure package that may or may not pass in the near-term with new funding attached, we are pursuing our own options and increasing our own chances of attracting investment into the Mississippi River Corridor.”
As well as attracting over 80 mayors, the event brought together some of the region’s most influential investors and companies. Among them was SNW Asset Management, part of Oppenheimer Funds, which manages US$3 billion in investment grade fixed income including municipal, agency, and corporate bonds.
Glen Yelton, Vice-President of ESG and an impact research analyst at SNW Asset Management, stated at the meeting, “I have used CDP data since its inception and am a champion supporter of the CDP Cities program”.
As an investor, he said, he wants to know “which cities are managing climate change risk and which ones are poised for investment to keep on our radar”. CDP datasets offer him this information.
Glen stressed the importance of cities’ efforts in sustainability, climate action and profiling projects saying: “there is market hunger and investors are looking for this opportunity”.
As well as using Cities data to inform sustainable and socially just investments, investors have used it to illustrate the importance of investing in cities as well as the growing market in the area.
HSBC Holdings plc quoted CDP Cities data from 2016 in its 2017 sustainability report. In the report, it advocated collaboration between private sector businesses and investors.
Matchmaking private investment with public projects
CDP has partnered with Climate KIC, Europe's largest public-private innovation partnership, to create the Matchmaker service.
Matchmaker provides subscribers with information on climate resilient infrastructure projects in cities around the world through a specialized project dashboard. Matchmaker works with cities to highlight projects in flood control, waste management, sustainable transportation, renewable energy, water management and energy efficiency, and links them to the investment community.
The benefits to the investment community to join the Matchmaker subscription include access to a dashboard detailing cities’ climate and sustainability activities, screening capabilities to identify urban climate projects based on desired criteria and lead generation for sustainable projects.
Click here to learn more about CDP’s Matchmaker Service and explore 2017 climate data from cities and companies around the world on the CDP Cities open data portal.