Vivek Chandran, Director–Climate Insights & Cities, Shakti, was invited to participate in a panel discussion at National Conference on Climate Finance for Cities as part of the Urban 20 on of March 20, 2023, at India Habitat Centre, New Delhi. As urban practitioners, policy experts, technical experts, the panellists reflected upon the needs and capacity gaps to build city readiness for Climate Finance. The session provided an opportunity for cities & organisations working with the cities to contextualise and highlight the key learnings, requirements at the city level with respect to their capacity needs. Capacities that can enable the cities to analyse prospects, develop proposals & assess the proposals for robustness to seek climate financing.
Vivek focused his intervention on the need for better project preparation among urban climate focused projects. The utility of a climate-focused project preparation facility was highlighted, especially to resolve technical design challenges at the conceptual stage, the understanding of innovative business models in unlocking finance, and reducing risks.