Lebanon is a country with densely populated cities, and many neighbourhoods have buildings and public spaces that are not prepared to adapt to the changing climate and for the transition to a low-carbon economy. This is especially the case for low- and mid-income neighbourhoods. Their infrastructure and services are inadequate and overburdened, exacerbating pollution, economic and social tensions.
The project proposal focuses on neighbourhoods that are big enough to aggregate the interrelated components present in an urban community and achieve economies of scale, yet small enough to achieve results in a foreseeable time period and break down some of the complexities that come with integrated approaches. The size of neighbourhoods allows for more rapid action than city-wide policy, while still having a significant impact. Neighbourhoods are a living fabric of social, economic, and physical features that provide the residents of a particular territory with an identity, a sense of security, safety, and familiarity.
Lebanon has enormous challenges and potential to enhance the mitigation and adaptation capacities of urban areas and foster transformative change through targeted interventions at the neighbourhood level. Furthermore, this programme can advance the implementation of the Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC) in Lebanon, including the development of the National Adaptation Plan for Climate Change and the achievement of the mitigation targets. This program can also showcase best practices, thus contributing to the energy transition of the country.
With the support and guidance of the Lebanese National Designated Authority (NDA), it is envisioned to submit the proposal for consideration to the Green Climate Fund (GCF). The preparation of the proposal is financially supported by the Italian Ministry for Ecological Transition. The GCF funding proposal is being developed under the leadership of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), in collaboration with BASE, the Lebanese Centre for Energy Conservation (LCEC), and technically supported by the Polytechnic University of Milan.
The general objective of this initiative is to design a programme to support high-densely populated (lower-middle income) Lebanese neighbourhoods to become more resilient to negative impacts caused by climate effects, and enable them as community centres to reduce Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emission and drive climate action, sustainable development and generating the conditions to improve the well-being of their population. The project will also support the economy to build back greener and better after the Covid-19 health and economic crisis.
The funding proposal aims to build a programme that provides mitigation and adaptation measures that can be replicated and scaled up to different densely populated cities in Lebanon. The funding proposal aims to raise $30-50 million in non-reimbursable funds from the GCF. Possible co-financing and initiatives that can be linked to and reinforce this proposal will be sought and analysed.
The first step of developing the funding proposal is to develop a feasibility assessment that aims to define the interventions to help Lebanon’s neighbourhoods, determine the characteristics of the beneficiaries, estimate the potential size of the market that could be reached, the baseline and the target measures, including the number of beneficiaries and CO2 reduction potential. Through this assessment, the partners will also answer the key questions previously raised by the NDA.
The second step would consist of defining a strategy for implementing the measures to reach the target market, estimating the resources required, resource distribution channels, expected impact, cost-effectiveness, economic and financial analysis, among other issues.
The goal is to submit this proposal with all secured partners and NDA approval and no-objection letter by the end of 2021.
