On 14 October, the EBRD brought together around 100 participants for a panel at the EU Week of Regions and Cities in Brussels, titled “Navigating access to innovative financial instruments for green cities and regions.”  

Organised by the EBRD in partnership with the Climate Bonds Initiative (CBI), ICLEI Europe, Covenant of Mayors Europe and the European City Facility, the event drew city and regional authorities, networks and supporting organisations from all EU27 Member States, as well as from our non-EU investee countries including Ukraine, the Western Balkans, Türkiye and the Caucasus. 

Moderated by Felicity Spors, EBRD Director for Sustainable Business and Infrastructure, the panel featured: Giovanni Garcea, Deputy Head of Unit for Climate Finance, DG CLIMA, European Commission; Magali Van Coppenolle, Global Head of Policy, CBI and Matthew Bach, Regional Director Europe, ICLEI Europe. 

Together, they unpacked the wide range of financial instruments available to help cities and regions scale up climate action - going beyond traditional grant-based approaches. The European Commission presented the EU financial toolbox for cities and regions, CBI offered practical guidance on how to prepare and issue green bonds, while ICLEI highlighted the power of networks and aggregation to make finance accessible - particularly for smaller local authorities.

The event also provided a timely opportunity to spotlight the EBRD Green Cities programme as a one-stop shop for sustainable urban transformation, from early stage pipelines and project preparation to delivery, for both public and private sector projects. Attendees were warmly invited to join the celebrations of the programme’s 10th anniversary, which will take place during London Climate Action Week next June. 

Key messages from the discussion included: 

• Cities need a diverse, tailored toolbox of financial instruments - combining grants, loans, guarantees, technical assistance and green bonds that can mobilise private sector investment. 
• Trust and collaboration are essential - between municipalities, investors and city networks - to build scalable and bankable projects. 
• Strategic coherence matters - planning efforts must connect directly to implementation mechanisms. 
• Aggregation models work - they allow even the smallest municipalities to access capital markets through shared platforms. 
• Capital markets are a key enabler - helping cities diversify funding sources and unlock larger volumes of climate finance. 

A big thank you all our partners for making this event such a success.