Successful Local Government Fundraising and Project Pitching

More than half of the world’s population lives in urban areas, and 1.5 million people are added to cities every week, resulting in enormous pressure on infrastructure, services, jobs, climate, and the environment. Although significant strides have been made in making climate finance more available to local governments, accessibility of those funds remains limited. To develop robust and bankable projects, finance is needed at a very early stage, representing up to 12% of the total project cost. 

This paper, produced by ICLEI, gives a brief overview of the different financial sources available to local governments and provides practical advice for fundraising and project pitching, using a case study from Brasília, which managed to raise over USD 450 million for climate-resilient projects in just one year.