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Volta, a San-Francisco based EV charging company, partners with retailers, shopping malls, grocery chains, and others to place Volta’s chargers in prime parking spots in front of their businesses. The charging stations will also come with two billboard-sized screens for displaying advertising. An initial 15 minutes of charging is free to customers. California State Government supports the deployment of zero-emissions vehicles and fill gaps in the state’s EV infrastructure.

The City of Paris has used Energy Performance Contracts (EPCs) to refurbish 240 schools in two phases, with a third phase now underway. The refurbishments, tailored to each school, include window renovations and the installation of LED lighting, sensors, insulation and new boiler systems.

The Indonesian Government aims to expand its geothermal energy sector to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The Green Climate Fund (GCF) and Clean Technology Fund (CTF) are offering USD127.5m in financing, consisting of a senior concessional loan for public sector projects, a reimbursable grant for private sector projects, and a grant for technical assistance. World Bank will also provide USD100 million loan to scale up investments in geothermal energy in Indonesia.

In the Netherlands, the regulatory requirement is that the surface layer of asphalt roads have a whole-of-life span of six years. Currently, 60% of rubble from broke-up old roads can be reused in the construction of new roads, however increasing that percentage of reuse is mostly improbable due to stability and safety concerns.  Dura Vermeer, a Dutch construction, infrastructure, and engineering business, has developed the technology to create top layer asphalt which can last up to 15 years (twice as long as current asphalt roads), but costs 10% more than regular asphalt roads.

In Guanajuato, Mexico agriculture accounts for about 84% of water rights. Significant growth in agricultural production and use of groundwater wells have led to a 2 metre annual decrease in groundwater levels. Improving agricultural irrigation practices has the potential to address agricultural water inefficiencies for water-stressed regions like Guanajuato. MWS is a collaborative approach to improve economic outcomes for farmers, create resilient supply chains, and increase water efficiency by using ‘pay for performance’ to accelerate sustainable agriculture practices in water-stressed regions.

Globally, Sub-Saharan Africa experiences one of largest energy access gaps.  Electricity reaches only about half of its people, while clean cooking only one-third; roughly 600 million people lack electricity and 890 million cook with traditional fuels. This has a disruptive impact on social infrastructure such as schools and hospitals which lack reliable electricity.  A clean energy revolution in sub-Saharan Africa is urgently needed to win the fight against energy poverty.

Joint European Support for Sustainable Investment in City Areas (JESSICA) is a partnership between the Council of European Development Bank (CEDB) and the European Investment Fund, which has provided EUR2.1b (USD2.5b) in co-investment in circular economy projects since 2015.  The EU JESSICA Urban Development Funds (UDF) contain financial contributions from EU member states, cities, and other public and/or private sources.  These are invested in the form of equity, loans, and guarantees for projects that support sustainable urban development and regeneration in cities.

The Indian government has committed to reducing the emissions intensity of its GDP by up to 25% by 2030. Buildings are identified in its nationally determined contributions (NDC) as one of the key levers to achieve this goal.  The World Bank identified India as a prospective case study to carry out a quantitative assessment of the potential impact of the mechanism due to its complex?housing market, economic conditions and Federal structure.  An economic cost-benefit analysis was conducted using the Excellence in Design for Greater Efficiencies (EDGE) green building software and cash flow modelling to assess the potential impact of a USD50m auction on the Indian market.

Due to decreasing aquifer water level (280 million m3 per year), Veolia Water Technologies (Veolia) partnered with The Nature Conservancy (TNC) and local municipality to propose the establishment of a water fund to finance changes to local water-catchment and uses. As a result, Livelihoods Funds created a project to support vulnerable farmers in Aguascalientes to invest in drip irrigation equipment to enhance farm resilience. Changing to a drip irrigation system showed a 50% - 70% decrease in water consumption by farmers. If the 5,000 local family farmers in the water catchment area adopted this system through the new fund, this results in approximately 65% reduction of the annual aquifer deficit.

RaiseGreen is a new crowdfunding marketplace/platform for green projects. Individuals, startups, non-profits or even local governments looking to start their own green projects can utilise the platform to create and develop the project, set their own terms, and present their offering on RaiseGreen’s platform for potential investors.  The platform offers a wide variety of replicable, templatised investment opportunities for solar power, affordable housing, EV charging stations, agriculture, water projects, and microgrids.

CFA is a 4-year programme funded by the UK Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (BEIS). Aims to identify and develop pipelines of bankable climate-related projects that can attract investment at scale from the private sector. In 2017, Nigeria took part in the inaugural pilot CFA process The CFA initiative has since been extended to Mexico, Colombia, Peru, South Africa & Turkey. Stakeholders involved  Conceiver: Ian Callaghan Associates  Funder: UK Government (BEIS)  Neutral convener for the CFA process: Nigerian Economic Summit Group

In 2017, amid severe drought, the City of Cape Town, in South Africa was issued its first Green Bond, which was used to invest in projects aligned to city’s sustainability goals to adapt to and mitigate climate change. The ZAR1 billion Green Bond was used to fund and refinance a number of green projects?in the city including procurement of electric buses; energy efficiency in buildings; water resilience initiatives; sanitation treatment; and the coastal structure protection and rehabilitation. At the time, Cape Town had the only green bond in the country to be accredited by the Climate Bonds Initiative (CBI) and demonstrated market appetite for green and climate initiatives.

Can investment in infrastructure fuel economic recovery? Is there a role for infrastructure in the transition to a circular economy? Hear what insights GI Hub's CEO, Marie Lam-Frendo shared in this interview for the official G20 Italy: The 2021 Rome Summit publication.

The ACGF is an innovative finance facility dedicated to accelerating green infrastructure investment in Southeast Asia with over USD1.4 billion in loans from co-financing partners, under the ASEAN Infrastructure Fund (AIF). The ACGF’s technical assistance supports governments to identify and prepare commercially viable green infrastructure projects while the ACGF loans are utilised to cover upfront capital investment costs. This two-pronged approach ‘de-risks’ green infrastructure projects, making them more attractive to private capital investors.

Cities are at the forefront of the pandemic crisis and are key players in the fight to achieve net-zero emissions targets. The recovery choices they make today will set urban agendas for years to come.

A solar leasing project at Singapore's Jurong Port significantly reduced carbon emissions and generated cost savings.