E Co. bites | Series 4
Welcome to our 4th series of E Co. bites! We share short and easily digestible climate finance explainers, technical lessons, and more about us, our work, and how you can support our mission.
Our principal consultant, David, shares how Land Value Capture helps cities pay for vital climate infrastructure by linking urban development with public investment.
It’s one of the policy tools we design as part of programmes like EBRD’s Green Cities, helping cities tackle emissions where it matters most.
Want to see how smarter density can drive climate impact? Watch the video below to find out.
TRANSCRIPT
Urban areas sit at the intersection of climate change risk & opportunity — cities produce 75% of global emissions, so that’s where mitigation solutions have to be concentrated. Decarbonising cities requires systemic thinking and local know-how — just the things that E Co excels at. Our delivery model enables us to work through trusted local experts to develop solutions that link inter-related urban sectors like energy, waste, and transport.
As climate finance experts, we often hear from cities about the difficulty of paying for climate infrastructure — the transit lines, the utilities networks, or the flood walls that they need are never cheap.
One novel solution to pay for those projects is Land Value Capture. This is a policy mechanism by which a city can charge a fee for increasing the allowable building height or density in a given neighborhood, and use the revenues to invest in climate infrastructure. The public investment improves the value of the local area, justifying the additional cost to real estate investors. As a bonus, higher density cities are correlated with lower per capita emissions and more efficient public services.
We help cities aroud the world design policies like land value capture. It’s the kind of solution we support as part of the EBRD’s Green Cities programme, helping municpial governments with their climate policy frameworks.
Check out more of our urban projects on our website. Or reach out to us directly if this E Co. bite has land value captured your interest!
About E Co.
We are E Co. We are a diverse and global team driven to build a sustainable future. For over 25 years, we’ve been supporting and guiding our clients to achieve low-carbon, climate-resilient development. We specialise in helping our clients lay foundations for transformative change, ensuring climate finance achieves its greatest impact.
We’ve mobilised over USD 5.9 billion from major climate funds with a 100% project approval rate. We work with global funds, UN agencies, national governments, development agencies, development finance, not for profits, businesses and investors. Clients include UNDP, IUCN, EBRD, FCDO, The World Bank, GCF, NEFCO, IIED, The Lightsmith Group.
We’ve worked on over 540 assignments in over 180 countries. Our clients span the public and private sectors, from international agencies and NGOs to governments, financial institutions, and global funds. We partner with them to turn ambitious climate goals into concrete action and lasting impact.
Across 17 sectors and seven services, we offer end-to-end support, from assessing market opportunities and formulating impactful strategies to designing and evaluating transformative programmes and projects. We empower clients to access and manage climate funds, develop effective policies, and build capacity for long-term individual and institutional success.
With deep expertise in climate finance and systemic transformation, we bring a nuanced understanding of sectors, cultures, and contexts. We lower risk, increase predictability, and design for impact, ensuring your investments create lasting, positive change.
E Co. is your trusted partner in navigating the complexities of climate finance and sustainable development, and together, we will make an impact.