Empowering Cities to Transform Climate Ideas into Action
GCoM and the Gap Fund serve as a bridge between local governments and climate finance opportunities.
In 2022, the City Climate Finance Gap Fund (Gap Fund) and the Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate and Energy (GCoM) joined forces to expedite cities’ climate progress. This partnership aims to enhance awareness of the Gap Fund as a crucial resource for local governments to receive technical assistance and accelerate the implementation of climate plans and actions. Through specialised events and targeted guidance, cities can transform their sustainable energy and climate action plans into project ideas ready to apply for the Gap Fund. The Global Covenant of Mayors leverages its expertise to support local governments in preparing strong and eligible applications for the fund.
To learn more about how GCoM is helping local governments access the Gap Fund and transform climate ideas into actionable plans, please contact info@gcomprojectsupport.org
What is the City Climate Finance Gap Fund?
The City Climate Finance Gap Fund (Gap Fund), launched in September 2020 supports cities in developing and emerging countries transitioning towards low-carbon and climate-resilient pathways by providing early-stage technical assistance. This assistance provides technical assistance to formulate city climate strategies, analyse key actions, promote improved coordination among key stakeholders, and support the preparation of projects from planning and strategy development to project concept and pre-feasibility stage.
Implemented by the World Bank (WB) and European Investment Bank (EIB), in partnership with the Deutsche Gesellschaft für internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) and an array of organisations, the Gap Fund helps bridge the urban financing gap to achieve low carbon, climate resilient urbanization.
GCoM helps by addressing local governments’ planning and project preparation challenges. By working directly with local governments representatives, GCoM is able to help cities better frame their ideas into Gap Fund expressions of interest, ultimately enhancing their ability to build finance-ready initiatives that drive effective climate action.
GCoM & The Gap Fund Partnership
GCoM raises awareness for cities, city networks and key stakeholders about the Gap Fund, its activities and the support available while promoting low-carbon, climate-resilient city development. The specialized team also supports city governments to identify and seek to overcome the challenges they face in evolving sustainable energy and climate action plans into projects.
Empowering Cities: The Gap Fund focuses on low- and middle-income countries, providing early-stage technical assistance to help cities in the development or expansion of climate plans, projects or policies. This early stage support is critical to turn resilient low-carbon ideas into strategies and finance-ready projects
Application process: GCoM provides expertise, helping local governments turn their climate ideas into strong and eligible expressions of interest for the Gap Fund. Through a series of outreach events and activities, GCoM team support cities to identify eligible project ideas ready to apply for the Gap Fund.
Streamlining Access to Finance: With a growing number of high-quality, viable climate-friendly urban projects, cities receiving support from the Gap Fund can access later-stage technical assistance for project preparation.
WHERE IS THE GAP FUND TEAM LOCATED?
PAST EVENTS
In 2023, the GCoM-Gap Fund Partnership supported and delivered more than 30 events, reaching more than 1200 people in over 500 cities worldwide. It also identified more than 100 project ideas.
GAP FUND UPDATES
July 1, 2024
Karatay, Konya, Türkiye– June 26-27, 2024 - The UCLG-MEWA Executive Bureau Meeting featured a pivotal session on urban climate finance, organized by the Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate & Energy (GCoM) and led by Carolina Mesa, Global City Advisor, and Shaden Al Galaythe, Regional City Advisor. The session, held on the second day of … read more
June 11, 2024
The Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate and Energy (GCoM) and the City Climate Finance Gap Fund (Gap Fund) partnership team will be actively participating in the ICLEI World Congress 2024 (ICLEI WC) in São Paulo from June 18-21. This year, the ICLEI WC will be centred on the challenges of transforming commitments into action, … read more
May 31, 2024
What technology solutions are cities around the globe investing in to support climate mitigation in buildings, transport, and solid waste and how can these be deployed in urban areas in low- and middle-income countries? These questions are explored in a recent technical note titled “Smart City Solutions for Climate Change Mitigation” published by the Gap … read more
GAP FUND PARTNERS
