More than 80% of the global GDP is generated in cities – the engines of economic growth. However, an increasing number of cities are becoming climate vulnerability hotspots. Greater numbers of people, assets and economic activities are exposed to climate events as urban areas in the developing world continue to grow rapidly. Increasingly, sea-level rise, erosion, cyclones and flooding will affect low-lying and coastal cities, while water stress, heat stress, fires and droughts will impact urban environments in drylands.  According to the Climate Change Vulnerability Index, 79 African cities rank among the 100 fastest growing cities in the world, but also fall within the “extreme risk” category.

The Accelerator leverages partners to provide support to African cities through a comprehensive city diagnostic exercise. The exercise identifies priority investments in both municipal management and resilient infrastructure such as in water, sanitation and solid waste, mobility and housing, and green and grey infrastructure to mitigate droughts and urban floods. Based on the assessments, including those that identify scalable locally led action, specific investments and actions for financing are identified. Investments and other supporting actions will be designed in a way that maximizes jobs and creates small and medium-sized enterprises for adaptation services.

In N’Djamena the capital of Chad, for example, working with the World Bank, GCA is providing technical assistance to a US$100 million investment Gender Vulnerability Assessment and Investment Prioritization Analysis to improve the design and prioritization of infrastructure to mitigate flood risks. The Water and Urban team is also supporting projects in Senegal, Liberia, Sierra Leone.