LoCaL
Climate Finance For Cities
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Submit an idea

City finance lab

The City Finance Lab organises an annual call for innovative financing solutions.

Submitting an idea to the City Finance Lab yields two major benefits for the proponent:

  • selected ideas receive guidance from leaders of prominent public, private and philanthropic sector organisations and technical advisory from leading city finance experts.
  • winning ideas become part of a network that can provide political and financial support and showcase their ideas to stimulate scaling and replication of their solution.

Euro 75,000

Average value of the in-kind analytical and communications support received by selected City Finance Lab solutions

1 September – 31 October 2019

1. Submit a summary of your idea
Click here to submit a summary of your idea (max. 500 words) by 10pm UTC+1 on 15 October 2019.

2. Submit a full proposal
After you submit your idea summary, the City Finance Lab will notify you within three working days whether or not you should submit a full proposal. The submission deadline for full proposals is 10pm UTC+1 on 31 October 2019.

The recording of the City Finance Lab – Call for ideas 2019 webinar can be accessed here.

Submit my idea

Missed the deadline? No problem, you can sign up for updates on the next call.

Who can submit an idea?

All Europe-based entities are eligible to receive support from the City Finance Lab to develop their innovative financing solution dedicated to cities.

What are we looking for?

The City Finance Lab looks for ideas which address financing gaps in cities by overcoming the barriers that hinder their ability to develop urban infrastructure, and which preserve key urban resources.

Examples of eligible financing solutions include:

  • adapting existing finance options and mechanisms to sustainable objectives
  • developing innovative sustainable finance and contracting schemes
  • creating cutting-edge climate-related tools for local governments
  • designing dedicated urban funds or trusts aimed at meeting global climate goals
  • replicating successful financing solutions for sustainable initiatives in different economies

The criteria by which the City Finance Lab will evaluate the financing solutions are as follows:

  • Relevant – how will your idea finance climate-relevant solutions in cities?
  • Innovative – how will your idea tackle investment barriers yet to be addressed or do so more effectively than existing approaches?
  • Transformative – what level of investment could your idea mobilise and does it address issues common to multiple European cities?
  • Financially sustainable – how will you reduce and possibly phase out any public financial support?
  • Feasible – do you already have close links to one or more cities or other potential implementation partners and investors? If not, which partners do you feel could be interested?

The 2018 selected and supported innovative financing solutions can be found here.