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R-Cities Network sets up $10m fund to catalyse investment in resilience efforts
The Resilient Cities Network’s fund will provide grant-based support to member cities around the world for prioritised local resilience projects as they seek to protect themselves from future shocks and stresses.
The Resilient Cities Network (R-Cities) is establishing a $10m fund to catalyse investments in resilience and resilience-related efforts as cities face urgent pressure to adapt to climate change.
The Resilient Community Impact Fund (RCIFund) has already received funding commitments from Zurich Insurance Group, in collaboration with the Z Zurich Foundation, and Bank of America.
Local resilience projects
R-Cities is a city-led non-profit organisation and is present in almost 100 cities and more than 40 countries. The RCIFund will provide grant-based support to member cities in the global network for prioritised local resilience projects.
These grants will act as a leverage for additional funding to advance projects and ensure vulnerable communities become resilient to future shocks and stresses from environmental, social, and economic disruptions.
“Cities are calling for targeted resources to fund projects that deliver a safer and more equitable future,” said Lauren Sorkin, executive director, Resilient Cities Network, who is also a member of the SmartCitiesWorld advisory panel.
She added: “The global pandemic and its cascading effects coupled with more intense and frequent natural disasters repeatedly demonstrate that we must protect the most vulnerable in our cities. Today we are inviting partners to invest with us, knowing our cities can effectively implement solutions to the many challenges we face.”
“The global pandemic and its cascading effects coupled with more intense and frequent natural disasters repeatedly demonstrate that we must protect the most vulnerable in our cities”
Brian Strong, chief resilience officer (CRO) with the City of San Francisco and member of the R-Cities Global Steering Committee, said from a city government perspective, this type of catalytic grant funding is rare “but essential to increase and scale resilience projects”.
He added: “I am confident that our community would be able to quickly deploy resources from the RCIFund to address the critical resilience building needs in our city.”
The RCIFund launches with $500,000 from the Z Zurich Foundation as part of the larger North America Climate Resilience Programme.
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Gregory Renand, head of the Z Zurich Foundation, is inviting like-minded peers to contribute to this fund to surpass the initial goal for creating more climate-resilient cities and communities as well as address social inequity.
“This is a vehicle run by an organisation with a solid reputation for advancing a range of resilient projects in cities,” said Renand. “We see the fund as a unique and necessary element to create impact on the ground as part of our larger partnership.”
“This is a vehicle run by an organisation with a solid reputation for advancing a range of resilient projects in cities”
Bank of America is contributing $350,000 to catalyse projects in Asia and North America. “Climate change is having an adverse impact on our most vulnerable communities now. The Resilient Community Impact Fund will provide critical funding to cities and organisations to jump start local resilience projects,” said Rich Brown, environmental programme director, Bank of America.
“Over time, these projects will provide the foundation for cities to meet the challenges posed by extreme weather and related impacts.”
Projects seeded through the RCIFund will leverage additional funding from private, public and philanthropic stakeholders. The initial round of grants will be awarded to city projects in late 2022.
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How will the $10m RCIFund accelerate local climate resilience projects?What role do grant-based supports play in enhancing urban resilience?How can cities leverage RCIFund grants to attract additional investments?In what ways does the RCIFund address social inequity in cities?How do partnerships with insurers and banks strengthen resilience funding?Bank of Americaclimate actionClimate change/ResilienceCOP26Economy and financeEnergy & EnvironmentGovernance and Citizenresilienceresilient cities networkZurich Insurance Group
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