Rio de Janeiro Low Carbon City Development Program

Project Summary:

Spatially constrained and environmentally fragile, the Rio metropolitan area has made the Rio Stage region susceptible to environmental disaster. To support sustainable economic growth and implementation of Rio de Janeiro’s ISO-certified low-carbon city program, two innovative programs are helping Brazil’s second largest metropolitan area to improve social services and decrease environmental degradation. The first of its kind, the low-carbon city development program is providing tools to quantify and track GHG emissions, helping Rio to promote resource efficiency while creating green jobs. The new harmonized approach leverages financial and technical tools to help structure and implement future municipal low- carbon investments.  

List of Activities:

• Conducting a scoping study and work with the Municipal Government to set up a pilot monitoring, reporting, and verification (MRV) system for demonstration projects, which will comprise the backbone of the Program and be expanded to ensure its longevity in the City of Rio de Janeiro
• Conducting a scoping study and work with stakeholders to prepare a strategic plan for innovative financial products, including potential carbon-linked financial products, to implement one or more of the energy efficiency findings from the TRACE study
• Conducting a retrospective GHG analysis of past interventions following the LCCDP process in order to transparently demonstrate achievement of Rio’s 2012 GHG Reduction Targets and populate the MRV system
• Producing one or more learning materials in order to facilitate a knowledge exchange with other cities interested in developing an LCCDP

Outcomes:

Output 1:

• Implementation of the Rio Low-Carbon City Development Program 

Output 2:

• Structuring, leveraging of finance, and implementation of current and future municipal investments in a low-carbon way on the ground in Rio 

Output 3:

• Catalytic impact by providing tools to quantify and track emissions and additional carbon-related financing 

Output 4:

• Promote green urban growth, resource efficiency, and green jobs through low-carbon investment 

Output 5:

• Promote innovation and development of city-level carbon finance mechanisms and low-carbon development programs 

Output 6:

• South-South and South-North knowledge exchange with other cities 

Outcomes:

This project envisages outcomes such as increased knowledge and ‘literacy' of Rio Prefeitura regarding city-wide low carbon development and a heightened awareness of carbon impacts of municipal activities and investments, particularly for the evaluation of future municipal investments ahead of the mega-events (FIFA World Cup in 2014 and Summer Olympics in Rio in 2016). In the longer term, the LCCDP will lead to advancing city-level carbon finance and the implementation of climate change mitigation interventions in all urban sectors under the program. This will lead to knowledge generation and ample opportunities for South-South knowledge exchange with other mega-cities.

Collaboration with K-Partners and Others:

This project collaborated with Korean partners, such as Gwangju City, UNEP, and KEI, based on the partnership and their commitment to explore urban carbon finance under the Urban Environmental Accords (presented at the 2011 Gwangju Summit). This partnership will be conducted for knowledge exchanges between Rio and another UEA-member city interested in undertaking design of an LCCDP or exploring innovative carbon-linked financial products to implement energy efficiency measures (such as Belo Horizonte, which recently conducted a TRACE assessment).