The C40 Cities Finance Facility is moving forward in its two current partner cities, Bogotá and Mexico City, to ensure their respective projects are developed to the highest standards and can attract the right sources of financing. A team of local and international experts is hard at work to help the cities deliver on their respective sustainability aspirations. As cities take action to deliver on international climate commitments, the CFF feels extremely fortunate to be able to support their transformational impact.
A high-level delegation from Mexico City attended the C40 Clean Bus Finance Academy in London on April 5th-7th. The attendees discussed options around how to pay for low to zero-emission buses, and included representatives of 12 cities from five continents already progressing on their plans to clean up their bus fleet. The delegates from Mexico City presented the ground-breaking Eje 8 Sur project: CFF support is helping the city through the project preparation phase, analysing the viability of deploying a fleet of zero-emission buses as well as bicycle lanes along the corridor.
Bogotá held its annual car-free day (día sin carro) on February 2nd, an initiative now 17 years old and increasingly popular with the residents. This year, a record number of almost 1.8 million bicycle trips were registered. The initiative highlights the demand for sustainable transportation in the city, which the Quinto Centenario project aims to address. The city also held a workshop on March 27th with residents and representatives from civil society and cycling organisations to inform the project's development and ensure the Quinto Centenario cycleway benefits the widest number of people.
The C40 Financing Sustainable Cities Forum took place in London on April 4th, 2017. The conference focused on opportunities to scale up investment in sustainable and inclusive cities, and included a panel discussion with Gustavo Jimenez Vera, CFF Senior Project Advisor in Mexico City, which focused on how to create ‘bankable’ projects in cities.