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23 global cities, 58 million people to benefit from $2B UrbanShift program

September 23, 2021

The United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP) and its partners announced that they will provide at least $1.8 billion in funding and financing to 23 more cities across nine countries to implement integrated development approaches to improve efficiency, inclusivity and resilience against climate change. 

The health and livelihoods of more than 58 million people will be improved through the new investment, collectively called UrbanShift. Participating cities are in the nine countries of Argentina, Brazil, China, Costa Rica, India, Indonesia, Morocco, Rwanda and Sierra Leone.  The program is funded by the Global Environment Facility and additional financing and technical support is being provided by the World Resources Institute, World Bank, Asian Development Bank, C40 Cities, Local Governments for Sustainability, and the United Nations Development Programme.

In the Sept. 21 media event, speakers said at least 130 million carbon dioxide equivalent emissions will be avoided as a result of the collective approaches across the 23 cities, emissions equivalent to those released by 32 coal-fired power plants.

climate change