WB-funded Gap Fund Adopts First Assistances to 9 Cities, including 2 in Vietnam

The City Climate Finance Gap Fund (Gap Fund), which is implemented by the World Bank (WB) and European Investment Bank (EIB), has approved its first batch of technical support grants totaling $1.8 million to help nine cities, including two in Vietnam, transform their climate ambitions into finance-ready projects. The grants will help cities in India, Mexico, Ethiopia, Morocco, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Vietnam, and Kosovo identify the sources of urban greenhouse gases (GHGs) and create scenarios to see impacts of the urban growth on future GHGs, and prioritize critical policies and infrastructure investments. The grants will also facilitate coordination of local and national level climate change action plans to help build low-carbon, resilient, and livable cities. In this first batch, Vietnam’s central cities of Vinh and Ha Tinh will be assisted in developing climate-smart action plans outlining specific activities to reduce GHG emissions, including investments, policies, and actions. (World Bank, worldbank)