Taking place in Brussels on 18 and 19 June, the 13th European Development Days (EDD) hosted a side event Tackling territorial inequalities through local climate action and innovative finance co-organized by the UN Capital Development Fund's Local Climate Adaptive Living facility (LoCAL) and the Covenant of Mayors in Sub-Saharan Africa, an EU initiative, supports local authorities in their fight against climate change and in efforts to ensure access to clean energy.

Urban areas are vulnerable to climate change impacts. Cities have made ambitious commitments and inspired a ground-up movement. Local authorities, both rural and urban, are increasingly seen as key in the promotion of climate change adaptation and in building resilience to climate change at the local level. They are in a unique position to identify the climate change adaptation responses that best meet local needs. Yet, they frequently lack the resources to fulfil this mandate – especially in a way which is aligned with established decision-making processes, public planning and budgeting cycles. While there is scope for local governments to become climate champions in the promotion of resilient economies, cities and communities, climate finance is usually scarce at subnational level, and mainly accessible through national or sectoral plans.

LoCAL promotes climate-resilient communities and local economies by investments in adaptation at the local level in least developed countries. Through its Performance-based climate resilience grants (PBCRG) system, LoCAL offers a standard, nationally recognized mechanism to promote climate change–resilient communities and local economies by

1. increasing local-level climate change awareness and capacities;
2. integrating climate change adaptation into local government planning and budgeting in a participatory and gender-sensitive manner; and,
3. increasing the financing available to local governments.

As of today, candidate or accredited National Implementing Entities (NIEs) to the Green Climate Fund in Sub Saharian Africa, are offering key partnerships opportunities for the promotion of subnational adaptation across the region. LoCAL works closely with these NIEs to leverage subnational climate finance in Benin, Mali, and Tanzania and in Asia Pacific, in particular Cambodia and Bhutan.

Speakers shared best practices and discuss the challenges local authorities and LoCAL cities partners showcased these initiatives and developed concrete actions

- Mr. Etienne Coyette, Head of Sector Climate Change, Unit Sustainable Energy and Climate Change, DG DEVCO, European Commission, moderated the session, providing valuable insights on the EU-funded Covenant of Mayors in Sub-Saharan Africa and UNDCF LoCAL Programme.

- Ms. Rokhaya Ndeye Sarr, City of Dakar, Senegal, presented the activities led in Dakar to address climate change and the issue of waste management while involving the youth.

- Mr. Philip Anthony Emenyu, City of Kasese, Uganda, presented Kasese’s plan to shift his city to 100% renewables by 2020 and the actions taken to bring access to clean energy services for all domestic, productive and social needs in both rural and urban areas.

- Ms. Carin Jämtin, Director General of Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA), key donor of the UNCDF’s LoCAL facility, provided key insights on the programme and the engagement of the Swedish agency towards supporting climate financing for local authorities.

- Mr. Andrew M. Komba, Director of Sector Coordination, President’s Office – Regional Administration and Local Governments (PO-RALG), Tanzania, as Tanzania prepares to pilot the LoCAL mechanism, discussed how the country envisages to promote subnational adaptation and access to climate adaptation finance for local governments.

The LoCAL in Tanzania is embedded in the Local Climate Finance Initiative (LCFI), a programme jointly implemented by UNCDF, the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) and the Government of Tanzania, through PO-RALG. The PBCRG mechanism, with support from the European Union (GCCA+), will be first piloted as of the second half of 2019 in three districts of the Dodoma region, i.e. Chamwino, Mpwapwa and Kondoa. It will be run for two fiscal cycles, delivering PBCRGs worth USD50,000 per district, per financial cycle. In terms of national roll-out and expansion, the LoCAL/LCFI envisages, at a first step, expansion of the mechanism to another 13 Districts in Tanzania, and ultimately a national roll-out. PO-RALG has been working with partners, capitalizing on their support, including UNCDF’s, to mobilize resources to make the expansion possible. Among the various actions undertaken is the application for PO-RALG to become a national accredited entity for GCF direct access. We have already submitted our application earlier this year and we expect to have a feedback from the GCF very soon. This will allow us to roll out the mechanism to additional districts in Tanzania, in the medium-to-long runs.