Five multilateral development banks (MDBs), which loan some $8.4-billion a year for climate action in cities, agreed this week on a new partnership to better coordinate and deepen support to cities in adapting to and mitigating climate change.

The African Development Bank (AfDB), Asian Development Bank, European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (ERBD), Inter-American Development Bank (IADB) and the World Bank have agreed to work more closely to develop common tools and metrics for cities.

The five MDBs said they would develop a common approach for cities to assess climate risk, standardise greenhouse-gas emissions inventories, and encourage a consistent suite of climate finance options.

AfDB director for energy, environment and climate change Hela Cheikhrouhou said considering that the rates of urbanisation in Africa were the highest in the world, this was a timely initiative aligned with the group’s recently approved urban development strategy.

ERBD director for municipal and environmental infrastructure Jean-Patrick Marquet believed that the sustainability and climate change challenges for cities could be managed with a multifaceted approach involving active stakeholders’ participation in pursuit of both environmental benefits and transition objectives.

“This is an effort to disseminate best practices on an issue of global importance and where South-South cooperation aided by multilateral banks can really make a difference,” said Walter Vergara, a sustainable energy and climate change chief at the IADB.

“While cities account for over two-thirds of global energy consumption and an estimated 80% of global greenhouse-gas emissions, they are also crucibles of innovation.

“Cities are critical in the fight to tackle climate change,” World Bank VP for sustainable development Rachel Kyte said.

She added that with this new partnership, development banks would be able to better leverage city-level leadership on climate change mitigation and adaptation across the world.