Capacity Building Project on Low Carbon and Climate Resilient City Development in India (CapaCITIES)

Today, cities account for approximately two-thirds of global energy use and over 70 percent of energy-related greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions that drive global climate change. In India, increased demand for energy, infrastructure and services is putting city systems under pressure. This will be accentuated further by growing risks caused by climate variability. Poor and vulnerable segments of the city populations will be affected most. Through the Capacity Building for Low Carbon and Climate Resilient City Development project (CapaCITIES), Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation’s Global Programme Climate Change will support and accelerate the Government of India’s efforts for sustainable urbanization.

The goal of CapaCITIES is to strengthen the capacities of Indian cities to identify, plan and implement measures for achieving lower greenhouse gas emissions growth path and enhancing resilience to climate change in an integrated manner.

The three-year project shall focus on mainstreaming climate change mitigation and adaptation into development policies at the city level, supporting the city authorities in the formulation and implementation of integrated action plans and measures across priority sectors, sharing experiences with other cities, and providing technical support for pilot and long-term bankable projects.

Project Cities: Coimbatore, Rajkot, Siliguri, Udaipur

Duration: 2016-2019

• Elaborated climate profiles of four partner cities
• Developed and applied tools for city-level mitigation and adaptation planning and financing; trained officials in the application of these tools Identified sectoral mitigation and adaptation actions for priority sectors
• Implemented quick-win projects and prepared bankable projects for mitigation and adaptation actions in priority sectors
• Prepared regulatory measures in priority mitigation and adaptation sectors
• Identified global best practices and shared knowledge on integrating climate measures in urban planning with four project cities
• Disseminated project experiences to other Indian cities and countries

Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC)

South Pole Group (Switzerland), ICLEI – Local Governments for Sustainability, South Asia, and econcept (Switzerland) together constitute the Consortium that works with several other partner organisations/international experts, together forming the project Implementation Agency (IA).