Financing environmental and energy transitions for regions and cities

18 October 2019 | OECD

SEMINAR 5

OECD-European Commission Seminar Series: Managing Environmental and Energy Transitions for Regions and Cities

SEMINAR SERIES: MANAGING ENVIRONMENTAL AND ENERGY TRANSITIONS FOR REGIONS AND CITIES

SEMINAR 5: Financing environmental and energy transitions for regions and cities: creating local

solutions for global challenges

18 October 2019; 9:30 - 17:00 OECD Headquarters, Chateau, Room E, 2 rue André Pascal, 75016 Paris

What’s the issue?

Preparing regions and cities for the circular economy and for the goal of net zero carbon emissions will require large amounts of investment in innovation, the large-scale deployment of innovative solutions, infrastructure and the habitat alike. Regions and cities already play a particularly large role in this context: more than half of environmental and climate-related spending, and roughly two-thirds of environmental and climate-related investment comes from subnational governments (OECD, 2019). However, overall spending levels are still way below what will be required. Significant increases in public and private sector resources are needed for successful environmental and energy transitions, particularly as the share of environmental and climate-related spending and investment is very low relative to GDP in OECD countries (ibid). In addition to sufficient financing, the transition requires many new solutions that often go beyond technological innovation and include social innovation, new business models, behavioural changes and new governance approaches. At the same time, transition requires stakeholder engagement at all levels of government: we need local solutions to the global challenges. These are best generated with governance that engages all actors, including the private sector, empowers them and creates ownership.

About the seminar series

This is the last seminar in a five-part seminar series in the context of the OECD-EC project “Managing Environmental and Energy Transitions for Regions and Cities”. Previous seminars include: “Managing the transition to a climate-neutral economy”, “Managing Environmental and Energy Transitions in Cities”, “Managing the Transition to the Circular Economy” and “Managing Environmental and Energy Transitions in Rural Areas”. The outcome of the seminars will feed into the work of the European Commission Directorate-General for Regional and Urban Policy (DG REGIO) and will be summarised in an OECD publication to inform regional policy makers about current frontier thinking and corresponding policy approaches in managing the environmental and energy transitions.

Contact

Sandra Hannig

Co-ordinator of the seminar series Centre for Entrepreneurship, SMEs, Regions and Cities

Sandra.HANNIG@oecd.org

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Financing climate objectives in cities and regions to deliver sustainable and inclusive growth (OECD, 2019) doi: https://doi.org/10.1787/ee3ce00b-en

9:00-9:30 Registration

9:30-10:00 Setting the scene: Challenges and opportunities

Rudiger Ahrend, Head of Economic Analysis, Statistics and Multi-level Governance Section, Centre for Entrepreneurship, SMEs, Regions and Cities, OECD

Peter Berkowitz, Head of Unit, Smart and Sustainable Growth, Directorate General for Regional and Urban Policy, European Commission

10:00-12:30 The New Frontier: What do we know about financing the environmental and energy transitions for regions and cities?

Moderator: Joaquim Oliveira Martins, Deputy Director, Centre for Entrepreneurship, SMEs, Regions and Cities, OECD

Paper presentation:

Prof. Dirk Schoenmaker, Professor of Banking and Finance, Department of Finance, Rotterdam School of Management and Dr. Willem Schramade, Researcher, Sustainable Finance Factory, Rotterdam

Facilitated panel discussion on theoretical approaches and links with practical experience:

Dorothée Allain-Dupré, Head of Unit, Decentralisation, Public Investment and Subnational Finance, Centre for Entrepreneurship, SMEs, Regions and Cities, OECD

Ralf Goldmann, Head of Division, Energy Efficiency and Small Energy Projects, European Investment Bank

Viola Lutz, Head of Investor Consulting Climate, ISS ESG

Thomas Hoppe, Associate Professor in the Faculty of Technology, Policy and Management, Delft University of Technology

Dirk Röttgers, Policy Analyst, Climate Finance and Investment, Environment Directorate, OECD

Open discussion with all seminar participants

12:30-14:00 Lunch, OECD Restaurant des Nations

14:00-16:30 From theory to practice: How to prepare regions and cities for the challenges and opportunities associated with financing the environmental and energy transitions?

Moderator: Sabine Bourdy, Head of Unit Mainstreaming and Environmental Assessments, DG Environment, European Commission

Paper presentation:

Alexis Robert, Senior Analyst, Urban Climate Policy and Funding Advisory, OnClimate

Facilitated panel discussion on country and regional examples in practice:

Pierre Ducret, President of Finance for Tomorrow

Andreas Hagnell, Senior adviser on Environment and Energy from the Swedish Association of Local and Regional Authorities and Chair of the CEMR expert group on climate and energy

Sofia Cordeiro, Advisor, Urban Green Structure, Environment, Climate and Energy Deputy Mayor’s Office, Lisbon

Andrea Liverani, Program Leader for Sustainable Development EU Member States, World Bank

Bernard Blez, CEO of Passion For Energy

Open discussion with all seminar participants

16:30-17:00 Seminar takeaways and the way forward

Rudiger Ahrend, Head of Economic Analysis, Statistics and Multi-level Governance Section, Centre for Entrepreneurship, SMEs, Regions and Cities, OECD

Peter Berkowitz, Head of Unit, Smart and Sustainable Growth, Directorate General for Regional and Urban Policy, European Commission

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