Cities are warming twice as fast as the global average, and it is imperative we scale up solutions to tackle dangerous urban heat. Nature-based solutions (NbS) are a powerful ally to cool cities sustainably without increasing global warming. The Nature for Cooling Challenge will support cities to increase nature-based solutions implementation in urban areas to deliver on heat resilience and cooling benefits.
Urban NbS are a powerful tool to cool cities and reduce extreme heat risks for urban-dwellers around the world. The cooling benefits of NbS are well documented, but they need to be better recognised and leveraged to accelerate and scale up investment and implementation. The Challenge objectives are:
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
Challenge participants (municipalities, groups of municipalities, or regional governments) will pledge to increase or enhance the proportion of high-quality nature-based cooling solutions within their cities by 2030, with demonstrable progress by 2025.
To commit to the Pledge, participants will be requested to set a quantitative nature-based solutions target, a support target, and a minimum of three implementation actions.
Challenge participants can include municipalities and provincial, county or state governments. Among cities that commit to the pledge, the Challenge will identify a cohort of 8-10 ambitious cities in low to upper- middle income countries designated as challenge winners.
Challenge winners may receive small incubation grants to help refine pledges and implementation actions, technical assistance to support implementation and financing plans, matching funding for implementation (scaled by income level), opportunities to partner with potential financiers, and communications support.
Only eligible cities will be considered for prize money and dedicated support, but all cities wishing to demonstrate their commitment to this issue will be invited to take the pledge. In this way, the Challenge will create a community of practice for cities, partners, and financiers to exchange knowledge and accelerate action.
