The ‘colorblindness’ of climate finance:how climate finance advances racial injustice in cities

The interactions between climate change and financial markets are increasingly becoming a topic of study, yet the ways in which climate finance reinforces new modes of racialization in urban climate adaptation projects remain an under-represented line of questioning in both academic and policy worlds. In order to uncover myriad processes of racialization occurring within financing modes that are mobilized to solve the climate crisis, this paper focuses on three different urban deal-making spaces: Cagayan De Oro City located in Mindanao, in the southern part of the Philippines; Mexico City, the capital of Mexico; and Philadelphia, PA, situated in the northeastern corridor of the United States. Through analysis of the financial deals structuring urban climate endeavors in these three different cultural and environmental milieus, we find that the ‘colorblindness’ of climate finance both reinforces historical environmental injustices and creates new spatialities of environmental racism through its reliance on structures of racial capitalism. In doing so we also show the relevance of the racial capitalism framework beyond its theoretical heartlands

The 'colorblindness' of climate finance : how climate finance advances racial injustice in cities

Abstract: The interactions between climate change and financial markets are increasingly becoming a topic of study, yet the ways in which climate finance reinforces new modes of racialization in urban climate adaptation projects remain an under-represented line of questioning in both academic and policy worlds. In order to uncover myriad processes of racialization occurring within financing modes that are mobilized to solve the climate crisis, this paper focuses on three different urban deal-making spaces: Cagayan De Oro City located in Mindanao, in the southern part of the Philippines; Mexico City, the capital of Mexico; and Philadelphia, PA, situated in the northeastern corridor of the United States. Through analysis of the financial deals structuring urban climate endeavors in these three different cultural and environmental milieus, we find that the \u2018colorblindness\u2019 of climate finance both reinforces historical environmental injustices and creates new spatialities of environmental racism through its reliance on structures of racial capitalism. In doing so we also show the relevance of the racial capitalism framework beyond its theoretical heartlands

Pathways for resilience to climate change in African cities

African cities are largely less-built with agile informal settlements and multiple ecologies that harbor different pathways for resilience to climate change. We undertook a qualitative systematic review of academic and policy evidence, to address the question of what interventions are emerging at neigbourhood to city scale to enhance resilience to climate change in Africa. Resilience at neigbourhood scale often stems from harnessing the local resource base and technologies for urban agriculture and forestry; alternative energy from wastes; grassed drainages for protection against erosion; recreation along dry riverbeds; fog-water harvesting; and adjustments in irrigation schedules. At city scale, planning is targeted at buildings, mobility and energy service delivery as the objects to be made resilient. The review established that evidence on comparisons across regions is mainly on East, West and South African cities, and much less on cities in Northern and Central Africa. Ecological comparisons are majorly on coastal and inland cities, with minimal representation of semi-arid and mountainous cities. Resilience efforts in capital cities are the most dominant in the literature, with less emphasis on secondary cities and towns, which is necessary for a deeper understanding of the role played by inter-municipal and inter-metropolitan collaborations. African cities can bring context-sensitivity to global debates on climate resilience, if theoretical perspectives are generated from emerging interventions across case studies. We conclude with suggestions on what future research needs to take on, if evidence on resilience to climate change in African cities is to be strengthened