The Boston University researchers highlight how city funding approaches make emissions reduction projects easier to move forward than climate adaptation projects.
Claudia Diezmartínez wants city officials to be more curious about how local climate programs are funded. The funding process is shaping which projects cities pursue and who they benefit, according to a February 2024 Nature Climate Change paper co-authored by Diezmartínez, a Ph.D. candidate at Boston University.
“What happens in the budget office or with people who are making decisions about municipal bonds, all of those things are very opaque,” she said.
Based on interviews with 34 municipal officials and other urban climate policy and finance professionals, the paper highlights three ways municipal finance practices constrain urban climate action.
smartcitiesdive.com
by Ysabelle Kempe
March 27, 2024