New initiative supports cities to lead global response to climate change

Contact:

Bridget Nurre Jennions, Centre for Public Impact 

bridget@centreforpublicimpact.org

+44 7387 522788

For immediate release: 1 September 2022 

New initiative supports cities to lead global response to climate change

Three-year programme led by the Centre for Public Impact will help local governments accelerate their transition to zero-carbon climate resilient cities.

1 September 2022 – Today, the Centre for Public Impact (CPI) has announced the launch of Reimagining Climate Action in Cities. With dedicated funding from the Boston Consulting Group, through this initiative CPI will work as a learning partner to cities across the globe to help drive the transformation needed to meet their climate commitments.

With national action on climate change slower than needed to meet global targets, there is a growing movement of cities leading the way. Cities generate more than 70% of global carbon emissions and are on the frontlines of a wide array of climate-related risks. As more than half of the global population currently lives in urban areas, city leaders face both the biggest challenge and most significant opportunity to slow carbon emissions and limit global warming. 

The initiative aims to help remove one of the biggest barriers to cities making measurable progress in the coming years: public sector systems that aren’t set up for the rapid experimentation and learning needed to take bold action. With this initiative, CPI brings its vast experience in supporting cities to collaborate, experiment, and share learning across the entire city ecosystem in the face of emerging challenges.

Initial partnerships under this initiative include a project with the TransCap Initiative and EIT Climate-KIC to explore how city governments can make climate-related investments to catalyse systems transformation. In addition, CPI, with expert support from BCG Green Ventures, is serving as the operational partner on the Google.org Impact Challenge on Climate Innovation, which will commit $30M to fund big bet projects that accelerate technological advances in climate information and action.

Josh Sorin, Global Director, Climate Action, Centre for Public Impact:

“Climate change is one of the most complex and urgent challenges of our time. It calls for a new approach from our government leaders: one that centres relationships and learning to help us adapt more effectively to address the complex challenges we face. This initiative marks a significant opportunity to position city leaders at the forefront of the global effort to limit the impact of climate change – helping them increase the speed and scale of their actions to reduce emissions and deliver resilient and equitable urban ecosystems. We are proud to be part of the learning journey that will help get them there.”

Rich Lesser, Global Chair, Boston Consulting Group:

“Meeting our global commitments on climate change will require bold action and collaboration by businesses and governments. Cities are the perfect hubs to reimagine climate action in this way. The Centre for Public Impact has done groundbreaking work helping hundreds of governments understand how best to adopt a continuous learning approach to better meet the needs of the people they serve. The city learning network they will help steward through Reimagining Climate Action in Cities will play a vital role in driving the collaborative action needed to address climate change.”

 Chandrima Padmanabhan, Programme Manager, Centre for Public Impact:

“Over the years, CPI has worked with local governments across the world to help them develop the collaboration, experimentation, and continuous learning capabilities necessary to address complex challenges. We’ve also explored how purposeful public engagement can accelerate urgent and ambitious climate action. Through this initiative, we look forward to supporting cities to develop and deliver inclusive agendas, where individuals and communities are actively involved in shaping the policies and decisions that affect them.”

More information on the initiative - and how cities can take part - can be found at https://www.centreforpublicimpact.org/partnering-for-learning/reimagining-climate-action-in-cities.

###

About the Centre for Public Impact

At the Centre for Public Impact, we have an emerging vision to reimagine government so that it works for everyone. A global not-for-profit organisation founded by the Boston Consulting Group, we serve as a learning partner for governments, public servants and the diverse network of changemakers who are leading the charge to reimagine government. We work with them to hold space to collectively make sense of the complex challenges we face and drive meaningful change through learning and experimentation.

About the Boston Consulting Group

Boston Consulting Group partners with leaders in business and society to tackle their most important challenges and capture their greatest opportunities. BCG was the pioneer in business strategy when it was founded in 1963. Today, we work closely with clients to embrace a transformational approach aimed at benefiting all stakeholders—empowering organizations to grow, build sustainable competitive advantage, and drive positive societal impact.

Our diverse, global teams bring deep industry and functional expertise and a range of perspectives that question the status quo and spark change. BCG delivers solutions through leading-edge management consulting, technology and design, and corporate and digital ventures. We work in a uniquely collaborative model across the firm and throughout all levels of the client organization, fueled by the goal of helping our clients thrive and enabling them to make the world a better place.