Why City-Business Collaboration?

City-business collaboration has huge potential to reduce emissions on a greater scale than the city or individual businesses could manage alone, by maximising the assets of each actor and implementing the ambitious, coordinated local climate action needed to create inclusive, prosperous and climate-safe cities.

David Miller, Managing Director of international diplomacy at C40, speaking about the importance of city-business collaboration at the Innovate4Cities conference 2021.

Cities are uniquely positioned to meet the challenges of the climate emergency. Urban centres consume over two-thirds of global energy and emit more than 70 percent of the world’s total greenhouse gases, but also account for more than 80 percent of world GDP. They have influence over a huge range of assets and functions. Cities also have the most ambitious political leaders when it comes to climate - mayors who are already acting decisively across key areas of renewables, transport, buildings and waste to reduce carbon emissions. 

Nonetheless, we know that no single group can solve the climate crisis alone. A global problem calls for a global effort. Cities are shaped and financed by the private sector, making cross-sector collaboration at city level vital to deliver change at the pace and scale we need to avoid catastrophic environmental failure. 

For instance, a city cannot simply retrofit its building stock without addressing the commercial and private sector. Similarly, a city transitioning its vehicle fleet to electric will have a limited effect without corporate fleets also making the shift - or without help installing EV charging stations. This is why city-business partnerships have huge potential to reduce emissions on a greater scale than the city could manage alone, by maximizing the assets of each actor and implementing the ambitious, coordinated local climate action needed to secure an inclusive, climate-safe future. The private sector can also complement cities’ efforts by providing know-how, innovative thinking, and momentum to deliver transformative climate action projects at city level.

The City-Business Climate Alliance operates in a non-commercial environment, in the pre-procurement stage of city-business interaction. This allows cities and businesses to come together to co-create, consult and advise each other on strategies and policies promoting innovation and increasing ambition towards accelerated climate action.