Date: Wednesday, 16 November 2022 I Time: 09:00 – 10:00am GMT
Location: SDG7 Pavilion, Blue Zone
Organized by: SEforAll, Cool Coalition, RMI
In partnership with: WRI, Mission Innovation, WWF, High Level Champions
Event Description
This session will mark the launch of the “Beat the Heat: Nature for Cool Cities Challenge”, a joint effort under the framework of the Cool Coalition that seeks to help cities unleash the cooling power of nature and catalyze NbS implementation. The event will feature a discussion among local decision makers, global experts and financers, which will highlight the need for support on nature for cooling, and the transformative potential of the challenge.
About the Beat the Heat: Nature for Cool Cities Challenge
The challenge will ask participants to pledge to increase NbS implementation in their urban areas by 2030 and demonstrate tangible progress by 2025. The challenge seeks to:
- Demonstrate urban nature-based solutions’ ability to mitigate the urban heat island effect, avoid emissions, and reduce energy demand
- Drive finance for replication and upscaling
- Send a demand signal to project developers and financiers
The challenge also strives to support a cohort of cities committed to develop and implement nature-based solutions to deliver on heat resilience and cooling benefits. Incubation grants will be provided to participating cities in low and lower-middle income countries, and matching finance for implementation will be provided to the award winners based on the value of investment committed, tiered by the income level of the country.
Technical assistance for implementation and support for the development of partnerships, matchmaking, communications, and monitoring will also be part of the award process.
The Pledge: By 2030, and with demonstrable progress by 2025, challenge participants (municipalities, groups of municipalities, or regional governments) pledge to increase or enhance the proportion of nature-based cooling solutions within built-up city surface area.
Objectives
- Launch the Beat the Heat: Nature for Cool Cities Challenge and raise awareness on its implementation
- Demonstrate demand for the support needed among cities in the Global South.
- Socialize the challenge among partners, potential participating cities, and potential financiers of the challenge.
- Getting attention for the challenge from city networks and financiers.
- Provide a call for cities to join, with evidence that the pledge is there.
