During Climate Week NYC 2021, the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), Global Environment Facility (GEF) and partners launched UrbanShift – a new global initiative to improve lives and transform cities into green and liveable spaces that address climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution.
Cities are home to 4.2 billion people, more than half of the world’s population. But they face growing challenges – from floods, storms and heatwaves triggered by the climate crisis to dangerous air quality, lack of affordable housing and deep social divides.
Cities already account for about 70 per cent of all greenhouse gas emissions. By 2050, they must become carbon neutral to hold global temperature rise to under 1.5 °C – all while growing to hold nearly 70 per cent of the world’s population.
UrbanShift will support 23 cities, including in India, Rwanda and Sierra Leone, to adopt integrated approaches to urban development, helping shape cities that are efficient, resilient and inclusive. It builds on the lessons and experiences of the Sustainable Cities Integrated Approach Pilot programme, which was launched by the GEF during its sixth replenishment cycle.
UrbanShift is working with cities to promote integrated development approaches such as nature-based solutions, low-carbon public transport systems, low-emission zones, and integrated waste management.
Its aims include avoiding more than 130 million tCO2e of greenhouse gas emissions, the equivalent of one year’s emissions from 32 coal-fired power stations. UrbanShift will also improve the management and restoration of approximately one million hectares of land. With USD 146 million in GEF funding and USD 1.7 billion in co-financing, UrbanShift will improve integrated planning in the target cities, impacting the lives of more than 58 million people.
“Cities are at the frontline of the triple planetary crisis of climate change, nature and biodiversity loss, and pollution and waste,” said UNEP Executive Director, Inger Andersen. “However, our cities also have the power to address these challenges while increasing the resilience of their citizens and their infrastructure.”
“As we focus on the pressing issues of climate change, we must turn the ingenuity and industriousness we showed in building our cities in the first place to rethinking how they work. UrbanShift will be a key tool to help urban leaders do just that.”
The programme will engage mayors, the private sector, city networks, UN agencies, multilateral development banks and many other partners to support national and city governments. It is also building a knowledge and learning platform to connect cities with global expertise and cutting-edge research, as well as offering a space to share experiences and forge partnerships.
“In an increasingly encroaching urban world, investing in our cities is one of the best ways we can achieve global environmental benefits across sectors – from conserving biodiversity, to reducing carbon emissions and increasing resilience to shocks like climate events and pandemics,” said Carlos Manuel Rodriguez, CEO and Chairperson of the GEF.
UrbanShift is aligned to the Agenda 2030 vision to consider the social, environmental and economic dimensions integrated and indivisible. UrbanShift will particularly contribute to Sustainable Development Goal 11 to make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable, but also several other SDGs such as SDG13, SDG3 and SDG15.
About UrbanShift
UrbanShift is supporting 23 cities in Asia, Africa and Latin America to adopt integrated approaches to urban development, helping shape cities that are efficient, resilient and inclusive. UrbanShift is funded by the Global Environment Facility and led by UNEP in partnership with the World Resources Institute (WRI), C40 Cities and ICLEI-Local Governments for Sustainability (ICLEI), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the World Bank and the Asia Development Bank (ADB).
About the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)
UNEP is the leading global voice on the environment. It provides leadership and encourages partnership in caring for the environment by inspiring, informing and enabling nations and peoples to improve their quality of life without compromising that of future generations.
About the Global Environment Facility (GEF)
The GEF is the largest multilateral trust fund focused on enabling developing countries to invest in nature. It supports the implementation of international environmental conventions on biodiversity, climate change, chemicals, and desertification. Since its establishment 30 years ago, the GEF has provided USD 21.5 billion in grants and mobilised an additional USD 117 billion in co-financing for more than 5,000 projects and programmes.
