2024. A year of project delivery, but also of taking stock of our programme. In November, we celebrated the replenishment of EBRD Green Cities by EUR 3 billion for the next five years. And we concluded the year with an updated Green City Action Plan (GCAP) methodology.

A huge thank you to our Mayors and municipal counterparts, our partners and all our donors for their continued commitment and support. The success of the Green Cities programme is driven by their vision, commitment and passion.

Investments in green and climate action

There are now 95 investments in the Green Cities portfolio, all of which are delivering impact, with CO2 savings equivalent to taking 1,077,715 internal combustion engine cars off the road each year!

In 2024, 17 Green Cities investment projects were signed, totalling EUR 571.3 million. This includes the Gaziantep Düzbağ water project (Türkiye), which addresses access to clean drinking water in this earthquake-affected region, energy efficiency in buildings in Vilnius (Lithuania) through the private sector Šiaulių Bank Energy Efficiency Fund project and the first green bond under the programme with Georgia Global Utilities water utility company in Tbilisi (Georgia).

There has also been significant progress in implementing ongoing projects:

 In Ulaanbaatar (Mongolia), construction of a new sanitary landfill and recycling plant was completed. Additionally, over 3km of district heating pipeline was commissioned in November.

Despite challenging conditions, implementation works continued in Ukraine, to improve solid waste management services in Lviv and Khmelnytskyi (Ukraine).

In Sarajevo (Bosnia and Herzegovina), a fleet of 6 new trams was delivered to the Canton.

Four contracts were awarded and signed in the Guelmim-Oued Noun region (Morocco) for works to improve rural drinking water supply and to upgrade wastewater treatment plants.

20 battery trolleybuses were delivered to Balti (Moldova) and are now fully operational.
In Shymkent (Kazakhstan), the works on the Wastewater Treatment Plant have been completed.

All 100 electric buses have now been delivered to Samarkand (Uzbekistan), introducing environmentally friendly public transport to the City’s residents.

In Belgrade (Serbia), public buildings are being refurbished to enhance energy efficiency.

Green City Action Plans (GCAPs)

The EBRD supported 14 cities in developing their GCAPs last year, 10 of which completed their GCAPs in 2024. Congratulations to Agadir, Alexandria, Brcko, Bucharest, Cairo, Istanbul, Karlovac, Samarkand, Shymkent and Vilnius.

In 2024, Green Cities organised 26 stakeholder activities across 11 cities. A total of 5,320 stakeholders were engaged through workshops, capacity-building events, and surveys.

As part of the EBRD Green Cities replenishment, work was undertaken to update the Green City Action Plan methodology following internal and external review. The updated GCAP methodology aims to enhance the approach to city-specific climate challenges and solutions, enabling a more tailored response to each city's unique needs. It will be published on the Green Cities website in 2025.
   

Outreach, engagement and knowledge sharing

In September our Green Cities in Morocco event brought together cities and regions from Morocco and highlighted the important work currently being undertaken by Agadir and Guelmim Oued-Noun.

EBRD Green Cities co-organised and participated in over 20 panels at World Urban Forum 12 in Cairo, UN Habitat’s flagship biannual global conference on urbanisation, which attracted over 25,000 participants from 182 countries. 

At COP29, we were pleased to co-convene the High-Level Roundtable on Financing Urban Climate Action on behalf of the MDB Cities Group together with the World Bank to deepen collaboration and accelerate climate finance for urban mitigation and adaptation solutions. 

The EBRD Green Cities Leaders’ Roundtable from SPECA Region, co-hosted in partnership with the COP29 Presidency and the Ministry of Economy of the Republic of Azerbaijan, convened representatives from UN agencies, MDBs, the COP29 Presidency and, importantly, cities to strengthen regional collaboration on urban climate action. 

We were delighted to meet with many of our Mayors and international partners at these fora and look forward to continuing our excellent collaboration in the year ahead. 

Best wishes for the New Year!

The EBRD Green Cities Team