Building the Climate Resilience of Sub-National Infrastructure

Extreme weather events and climate change-induced disasters are increasing in frequency and intensity across the globe. This has devastating impacts particularly for sub-national entities such as cities and local regions that continue to record higher infrastructural damage and losses during climate change-induced extreme weather events and disasters. Building back better, post-pandemic, therefore necessitates building robust resilience systems by mainstreaming resilient infrastructure in the planning of these countries, especially at the sub-national level. This creates an opportunity for G20 countries to focus on sustainable urbanisation through adaptation in urban design and resource efficiency in built environments as a critical means to address disaster-induced damage. The necessary initiatives for efficient and resilient urban design will, however, require enhancement of technical and financial resources at the local levels of government through public and private sources of finance. In this regard, the G20 can steer not only embedding resilient design elements in sub- national infrastructure but also mobilise sustainable financing through innovative models for catalysing investments in disaster-resilient infrastructure. This Policy Brief aims to further the Presidency’s priority on Green Development, Climate Finance & Lifestyle for Environment (LiFE) for this year’s G20 by: i) identifying the current barriers to financing resilient infrastructure at the sub-national and local levels; ii) proposing recommendations for the G20 on necessary policy, regulatory and institutional arrangements informed by international best practices and bilateral consultations with international disaster coalitions.