Affiliated Institution
European Investment Bank, The World Bank
Support Entity Type
PPF
Project Stage Supported
- Enabling environment/capacity building for project proponents
- Project scoping, ideation, and concept note development
- Development of pre-feasibility studies
- Matchmaking with investors and funders
Funding Type
In-kind contributions
Type of Recipient
Public entity at the sub-national level
Climate Objective
Cross-cutting
Region
East Asia and Pacific
Europe and Central Asia
Latin America and the Caribbean
Middle East and North Africa
North America
South Asia
Sub-Saharan Africa
Sectors and Themes
Cities
Energy
Nature-based Solutions and Ecosystem Services
Transport
Waste
Water
Co-financing Requirement
No
Application Frequency
Rolling
Contact Information
Contact the Gap Fund via their 'Get in touch' page: https://www.citygapfund.org/contact/
Countries
The City Climate Finance Gap Fund, or the Gap Fund, provides early-stage technical assistance to cities for low-carbon, climate-resilient urban development plans and projects.
The Gap Fund can:
- Provide city planners with upstream technical assistance and tailor-made tools to enhance cities’ low-carbon planning and resilience efforts to address urban sprawling growth.
- Help city leaders build a pipeline of high-quality, climate-smart urban investments, with a focus on early and often underfunded stages of project preparation.
- Facilitate the connection between cities and prospective financing partners, such as World Bank or EIB lending, or third-party financiers.
- Leverage international collaboration and partnerships with the Global Covenant of Mayors and city networks to learn from each other and standardize approaches.
Eligibility Criteria
- Eligible countries — The Expression of Interest must come from developing and emerging countries identified in the ODA-OECD DAC list
- Climate action potential — The Expression of Interest must aim to make an ambitious contribution to the mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions to meet the 1.5˚ Celsius goal identified in the Paris Agreement and/or adaptation to climate change. Applicants must commit to carrying out an estimation of the proposal’s climate change mitigation or adaptation potential or working with Gap Fund experts to estimate it.
- Applicant/Ownership — The applicant must be a city or local government official or a third party that submits the proposal officially on behalf of the city or local government.
- Urban dimension — The project must be situated in an urban area or functionally linked to one. Proposals presented by public or private developers with clear linkages to sub-national governments will be eligible, so long as a proposal’s urban dimension is clear and local political ownership is verified.
- Stage — Gap Fund activities can provide support to cities either in strategic planning or up to the pre-feasibility stages of a project, namely:
- Climate strategy development/enabling environment
- Project definition/concept
- Pre-feasibility
The following urban infrastructure themes or sectors are eligible for Gap Fund support:
- Sustainable urban mobility
- Energy efficiency and small renewables, including building retrofits, street lighting, district heating and cooling
- Solid waste management and circular economy activities
- Water and wastewater management, including flood management
- Greening of urban areas, nature-based solutions, blue/green infrastructure, ecosystem restoration, and centered urban planning
- Green buildings, including sustainable/climate-friendly building materials and eco-districts
- Affordable housing with an energy-efficient approach
- Multi-sector, area-based investment programs, including slum/informal settlement upgrading, brownfield redevelopments, urban extensions or corridor development
- Circular economy approaches
- Sustainable cooling and measures to reduce urban heat island.
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