Event finished: 1st July 2021
Cities are where we can pioneer new cycles of net zero investment, bringing together revised urban utilities and infrastructures such as energy, waste, water, and mobility, with reformed land use, property and built environment, and a revolution in citizen behaviour change towards carbon frugality. City leaders have been in the vanguard of taking action against the damaging impacts of climate change. In the UK, local partnerships have been formed around ‘climate emergencies’, identifying and implementing programmes of work. Such programmes are becoming more integrated within city economic recovery plans, recognition that the green economy will both produce some of the quickest impacts and achieve the most long-lasting benefits.
Despite this heightened activity, the investment case for net zero paths for cities remains poorly developed. The barriers to investment lie not in the gross availability of finance, but rather the ability to create robust business cases and investment models, that address issues of scale, longevity and confidence. Through dialogue with the investment community, it is clear that such business cases will be strengthened where the plans of cities can be brought together, generating greater scale, volume, and predictability, thereby creating a more attractive and substantial proposition for investors.
Core Cities, London Councils and the Connected Places Catapult have jointly established the UK Cities Climate Investment Commission to address this deficit head-on. Using our collective networks and capabilities we are seeking to leverage the combined scale of cities to mobilise finance and drive investment into low and netzero carbon projects across all of the UK’s largest cities, rather than individual ones.
Who Should Attend:
- Government representatives
- Investors
- International organisations active on climate change and sustainable development
- Representatives from the business community, particularly businesses in the low carbon sector
- Academic institutions and think tanks active on climate change
- Community organisations and NGOs who are interested in supporting borough action on the green recovery
- Elected members
- Council officers
- Media organisations
