Buildings, cities and cooling systems are central to climate mitigation and adaptation, yet the financing needed to deliver sustainable, affordable and climate-resilient solutions remains insufficient and fragmented. Rising temperatures, increasing cooling demand, ageing housing and building stock and rapid urbanisation are creating substantial investment needs across energy efficiency, sustainable cooling, resilient housing and urban infrastructure.
In many rapidly urbanising areas, informal settlements and low-income communities face disproportionate risks from extreme heat and other climate hazards, while having the least access to affordable cooling and resilient housing. Financing mechanisms frequently fail to reach these vulnerable populations, highlighting the need for approaches that integrate climate resilience, affordability and social equity.
Despite advances in passive cooling design, reflective materials, resilient construction methods, and energy-efficient cooling equipment—and progress in supportive policy frameworks and innovative financing models—many promising solutions struggle to move beyond demonstration projects. Limited access to affordable capital, perceived investment risks, fragmented institutional responsibilities and insufficient project preparation continue to constrain implementation, particularly in developing countries and underserved communities.
This session will bring together city practitioners and financial, development, business and implementation perspectives to examine practical approaches to financing climate-resilient buildings, sustainable cooling and urban solutions. The discussion will include both large-scale infrastructure investments and household- and community-level approaches that improve housing resilience, reduce heat stress and expand access to affordable cooling.
Mobilising investment at scale requires stronger connections between public policy, project development, financial institutions and private-sector delivery. Participants will explore how blended finance, project aggregation and innovative business models can help overcome investment barriers. Emerging work on cooling investment roadmaps can help countries prioritise and sequence investments, identify financing needs and develop viable project pipelines.
The discussion will also consider how stronger delivery frameworks can turn climate commitments into coordinated programmes and projects with measurable results. These frameworks connect the steps from policy and programme design through project development and financing to implementation and impact measurement.