- During the event titled “International urban and regional cooperation to rethink sustainable urban and innovative models for a greener and better future”, which will be held from 27 to 30 June, three case studies will be presented that aim at achieving carbon neutrality in different cities, as well as financing alternatives and opportunities.
- ACCIONA has designed the event, selected by the United Nations from thousands of proposals for this edition of the 2022 forum.
Since 2020 the Consultancy and Innovation area of the Engineering Division of ACCIONA has coordinated the IURC (International Urban and Regional Cooperation) programme (https://www.iurc.eu/) financed by the Foreign Partnership Instrument (FPI) of the European Commission with strategic support from the Directorate-General for Regional and Urban Policy (DG REGIO). This project brings together cities and regions from all over the world to work on the achievement of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), the European Cohesion Policy, the New Urban Agenda or the Urban Agenda for the objectives of the European Union.
From the Central Services of the IURC programme, ACCIONA and its partners (EUROCITIES, EURADA and INFYDE) have designed this event, which has been selected by the United Nations from among thousands of proposals for this edition.
One of the key objectives of this event is to share existing and replicable methods that cities and regions are using to make progress towards carbon neutrality in urban areas, taking advantage of the thematic networks of the programme and international corporation to improve innovation and increase the impact of their pilot projects.
It also sets out to deal with the gap between the design of pilot projects and their financing, through the participation of all stakeholders involved and, in particular, the private sector, represented by European companies that can lead the process of change, as is the case of ACCIONA through ‘regenerative design’.
During the event a series of proposals for decarbonisation will be presented by cities participating in the programme:
- Madrid City Council (Spain) will present its “Urban Forest”, consisting of a green ring more than 75 km long that will restore public spaces and their ecosystems.
- The Mayor of Mannheim (Germany) will present the city’s “Renovation Wave” initiative, based on the renewal public building stock to achieve carbon neutrality in 2045.
- The Region of the Cauca Valley (Colombia) will present its “Green Route“ ecological infrastructure.
Two financial stakeholders, the European Investment bank (EIB) and the Urban Resilience Fund (TURF) of the Paris-based group MERIDIAM, will provide feedback on the study cases presented, suggesting opportunities and areas for improvement so that the projects can be eligible for financing from the investor’s perspective.
The event will be an ideal opportunity to put forward alternatives and mechanisms to strengthen proposals based on the experience and best practices of cities, regions and financial institutions.
Thanks to ACCIONA’s coordination, the event is an ideal scenario for capitalising results and conclusions through the network of the IURC programme. These can be transferred or replicated in other cities and regions around the world, stimulating future investments in sustainable urban development.
The new IURC programme will thus position itself as the new reference network for investment in urban and regional innovation at the world level, including a number of key countries in Asia, the Pacific region, Latin America and North America in line with the exterior dimension of “Europa 2020”.