Investing in a sustainable urban future: A guide to national and sub-national reform

The Coalition for Urban Transitions presents - Investing in a sustainable urban future: A guide to national and sub-national reform.

The creation of clean, compact, and connected cities can stimulate job creation and economic growth, improve air quality and living standards, and avoid the costs of sprawl - all while reducing carbon emissions. However, the sustainable urban infrastructure financing gap currently exceeds $1 trillion per year. Join us for a lively discussion on the means and methods of addressing this critical gap. This event will be the official launch of a major new publication 'Scaling up investment for sustainable urban infrastructure: A guide to national and sub-national reform' co-authored by the London School of Economics and the Coalition for Urban Transitions.

Speakers:

• Minister Bambang Brodjonegoro (Minister of National Development Planning of Indonesia)

• Professor Lord Nicholas Stern (Co-Chair, Global Commission on the Economy and Climate and IG Patel Professor of Economics and Government, LSE)

• Professor Ehtisham Ahmad (Senior Fellow, ZEF, University of Bonn and GRI, London School of Economics, Chinese Academy of Fiscal Science/Ministry of Finance Research Institute, Pao Yu-Kong Professor, Zhejiang University)

• Dr Andrew Steer, President and CEO, World Resources Institute

• Helen Mountford (Vice President for Climate and Economics, WRI and Program Director of the New Climate Economy)

• Chair: Ani Dasgupta (Global Director, WRI Ross Center for Sustainable Cities and Global Co-Director, Coalition for Urban Transitions)

Minister Bambang Brodjonegoro will give a keynote providing a critical perspective from the heart of national government. One of the world’s largest economies, Indonesia has recently released the first report of the Government of Indonesia's Low Carbon Development Initiative, the findings of which are to be integrated into Indonesia's next five-year development plan, making it the country's first low carbon development plan.

Professor Ehtisham Ahmad will present the new publication, followed by a panel discussion and Q&A.

This event will commence at 12.30pm EDT. Please join us from 12pm for lunch.

About the paper:

This major new publication 'Scaling up investment for sustainable urban infrastructure: A guide to national and sub-national reform' examines how to address the sustainable urban infrastructure financing gap. To date, emphasis has been placed on instruments to crowd in private finance, including bank lending, bonds, land-based financing, and PPPs, as the solutions to the infrastructure financing gap. These instruments have significant potential, but their effective deployment requires robust fiscal underpinnings.

This new paper sets out a two-step framework to help national and sub-national governments develop a coordinated approach to reforming fiscal and finance systems to enhance national and subnational domestic resource mobilization, improved governance, and sustainable management of liabilities. In this way, they can create a complementary bundle of tax, spending and financing choices that both raises the resources needed for sustainable urban infrastructure and creates the incentives to steer private investment effectively.

About the Coalition for Urban Transitions:

The Coalition for Urban Transitions is a major global initiative to support national governments to accelerate economic development and tackle dangerous climate change by transforming cities. It is a major collaboration between over 35 research institutes, intergovernmental organizations, investors, infrastructure providers, strategic advisory companies, NGOs and city networks. Our work is driven by a commitment to support national governments to end extreme poverty and deliver on their 2030 Sustainable Development Goals and to keep our planet climate safe in line with the historic 1.5 degree Paris Climate Agreement. The Coalition is a special initiative of the New Climate Economy and is jointly hosted and managed by the World Resources Institute Ross Center for Sustainable Cities and the C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group.