Urban climate resilience

This issues brief highlights cities' growing exposure to disaster and climate-related risks across the globe. With accelerating urban growth, increasing exposure to climate change risks and multidimensional vulnerability, it is critical for cities to employ an integrated, climate risk-informed development approach to achieve resilient lives and livelihoods and advance progress towards the SDGs. 

UNDP is well-positioned to help cities and countries achieve transformational progress towards building resilience. Through its Global Policy Network and in collaboration with other UN agencies, national governments and donor partners, UNDP supports a holistic approach to developing good governance, localizing the SDGs, and increasing climate action. 

At the local level, significant challenges exist across cities that hinder progress towards building the resilience of people and infrastructure to the impacts of current and future climate change:

• Data and evidence are missing.
• Capacity is needed.
• Policy and coordination gaps persist.
• Planning and programming are limited.
• Funding and investment are critical. 

In response to those challenges, UNDP’s services to further urban resilience includes the following:

• Developing the enabling environment and evidence base for urban climate risk management
• Enabling investments in urban climate resilience
• Accelerating and scaling ambitious urban climate change adaptation action