Mobilizing infrastructure investments for urban climate action in Africa: enabling factors for multilevel action

Laura Tozer; Marcus Mayr; Julie Greenwalt; Gifti Nadi; Hens Runhaar

doi:10.1080/13549839.2022.2100878

Mobilizing infrastructure investments for urban climate action in Africa: enabling factors for multilevel action

Laura Tozer, Marcus Mayr, Julie Greenwalt, Gifti Nadi, Hens Runhaar

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Academic › peer-review

Abstract

This article explores the importance of national governments and national-local relationships for scaling up local climate action to achieve global goals. From the Sustainable Development Goals to the New Urban Agenda to the Paris Climate Change Agreement, the achievement of global sustainability goals will depend on deep changes to national infrastructure and urban systems. Through an analysis of climate action planning and investments in exemplary cases in Africa, the paper highlights the opportunities and challenges that come with integrating national governments into urban-focused priorities and needs, especially for mobilising financial resources. The paper finds that scaling up city climate action in the selected African countries benefits from a constructive multi-level relationship between local and national institutions and stakeholders to shape and improve the legislative, financial and operating frameworks to enable systemic change. Large-scale urban climate action can be enabled by formal multi-level institutional arrangements, links to politically prioritised policy frameworks, and transformative aims that address both climate and socio-economic benefits for communities.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	867-881
Number of pages	15
Journal	Local Environment
Volume	28
Issue number	7
Early online date	Aug 2022
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1080/13549839.2022.2100878
Publication status	Published - 2023

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.

Funding

The multi-level institutional arrangements for the four cases all accessed funding to pay for project implementation, and, crucially, for operations. In particular, the cases showed how national governments have the power to channel money (particularly from international sources) and demonstrated that there is value in focusing that power on a single project and/or a single city. The Addis Ababa LRT was launched with federal loans from Exim Bank of China for 60 percent of the $475 million cost and forms part of Ethiopia’s First Growth Transformation Plan (2010–2015) aimed to achieve middle-income status and becoming a carbon-free economy by 2025. The Senegal Urban Flood Management project is funded by the GCF, where the National GCF focal point (Nationally Determined Authority – NDA) is the Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development and the Accredited Agency is Agence Française de Développement, which is also providing a loan that is the majority of the funding. It would not be possible to access this funding without national government involvement. The funding for the Dar es Salaam BRT was acquired by the national government, as a mix of own source revenue, sovereign guarantees, national budget allocation, and facilitated international loans (Phase 1 World bank, Phase 2 & 3 AfDB). The Government of Mozambique (GoM) receives funding from different international donors to enhance the climate resilience of Beira City. While the initial rehabilitation of Rio Chiveve received financing by KfW with special climate funds from the German Government, the Green Infrastructure Project had a joint investment by KfW and the World Bank. On-going funds for maintenance will be generated through the operation of the park. The involvement of national governments was crucial to access funding on a scale that would allow for a project with a larger scope. The Senegal Integrated Urban Flood Management project aims to reduce flood risk in urban areas, invest in drainage infrastructure and develop an integrated policy for disaster risk management at the national scale. The project is funded by a USD 58.9 million loan from Agence Francaise de Developpement, USD 17.7 million grant from the Green Climate Fund and USD 7.1 million from the Government of Senegal. Transformation is a core investment criteria for the Green Climate Fund, which it considers through the lens of paradigm shifts potentially catalysed by the project (Kuhl et al. ). Kuhl et al. () highlight the Senegal Integrated Urban Flood Management project as an example of transformational adaptation. The project was approved in October 2016 and is expected to be completed by October 2023. The project links to the national government’s 10-year flood management programme for 2012–2022 and the integration of disaster risk reduction, following from the Sendai Framework, into national development policy and planning. There are four key components to the project (1) Knowing the Risk: through flood mapping and awareness raising (2) Reducing the Risk: through investment into drainage infrastructure and identification of additional measures that can be implemented by public and private local stakeholders (3) Preventing the Risk: real-time hazard monitoring and preventative management of infrastructure (4) Governance: supporting national policy-making, institutional consolidation and capacity building. There are five executing agencies, all at the national level and the National Committee for Flood Management is the Steering Committee for the project. They are also responsible for the link to the regional and local level through the Regional Committees for Flood Management (Comités Régionaux de Gestion des Inondations – CRGI) and Departmental Committees for Flood Management (Comités Départementaux de Gestion des Inondations – CDGI).

Funders	Funder number
Green Climate Fund
National GCF
World Bank Group
Agence Française de Développement	USD 17.7
Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development

Keywords

Urban
climate
Africa
infrastructure
governance

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

Access to Document

10.1080/13549839.2022.2100878

Mobilizing infrastructure investments for urban climate action in Africa enabling factors for multilevel actionFinal published version, 1.61 MBLicence: Taverne

Cite this

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Mobilizing infrastructure investments for urban climate action in Africa: enabling factors for multilevel action

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Funding

Keywords

UN SDGs

Access to Document

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