Mayors and development finance institutions gathered at the World Bank Spring Meetings on April 17 to push for new ways to channel more money into resilient, low-carbon urban infrastructure, with a particular focus on smaller cities most exposed to climate and economic shocks. The roundtable, titled “Scaling Sustainable Investment in Cities: The Role of DFIs,” brought together city leaders, multilateral development banks and climate finance networks to examine how investment can reach urban areas faster and more effectively.
The meeting was co-convened by C40 Cities, the Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate & Energy and the Multilateral Development Banks Cities Group, a task force formed by urban teams from eight multilateral development banks. Participants said the goal is to close persistent finance gaps and help cities move from climate ambition to bankable projects that can deliver real infrastructure on the ground.
Organizers said the discussion came as pressure grows to scale urban climate finance to at least US$800 billion annually by 2030, in line with the New Collective Quantified Goal and the COP30 commitment to triple adaptation finance by 2035. Speakers said cities in the Global South remain especially underserved despite being among the most exposed to flooding, heat and other climate risks.
Claudio Castro, mayor of Renca in Chile, chaired the roundtable and said the forum continued a broader dialogue between cities and multilateral lenders on how to respond to mayors’ calls for stronger support for urban climate action. He said city governments are already developing projects with measurable returns and need a financial architecture that can match their ambitions.
The discussion highlighted examples of how development banks are expanding support for city resilience. The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development said its Green Cities programme will mark its 10th anniversary in 2026 and aims to reach 100 million people across its countries of operation, including new members in sub-Saharan Africa.
The Inter-American Development Bank also pointed to the role of city-led finance networks in helping local governments overcome structural barriers. Juan Pablo Bonilla, who leads the bank’s climate change and sustainable development sector, said such platforms help finance officials share tools, improve financial management and strengthen access to funding.
The roundtable also heard from representatives of Brazil and Germany, the co-chairs of the Coalition for High Ambition Multilevel Partnerships, known as CHAMP. They said national governments must create the enabling policy environment while local authorities lead implementation, and urged multilateral lenders and DFIs to help cities access and deploy climate finance more effectively.
A new report launched at the meeting, Building the Financial Case for Urban Adaptation: Guidance and Case Studies, argued that adaptation should be treated not only as a public cost but as an investable opportunity. The report said cities can attract more private capital by developing revenue streams, preparing stronger project pipelines and engaging investors early in project design.
Examples cited in the report included Dakar’s flood-resilient bus rapid transit system, Bilbao’s flood-protection redevelopment, Kuala Lumpur’s SMART Tunnel and the Netherlands’ Afsluitdijk flood defence upgrade, all of which were backed by different combinations of public and private finance.
