After four years in Mexico, the Financing Low Carbon Infrastructure in Cities (FELICITY) project closes its activities with a bang in June 2022, by holding stakeholder sessions with representatives of the municipality of Naucalpan, the government of Mexico City and the Investment Unit of the Ministry of Finance and Public Credit (SHCP). During the sessions, the documents produced during the technical assistance with the counterparts were officially handed over.
FELICITY also co-organised the third virtual dialogue culminating in the Green and Inclusive Finance Festival 2022. This is the graphic report of the FELICITY session:
The video Felicity in one word was launched, which integrates the perspectives of several FELICITY partners around the world.
As a legacy of FELICITY, the document Story of Change generated by the FELICITY Global Project in Mexico was prepared, and the free online PreP course remains, which is still open and continues to allow the registration of new users interested in learning more about the preparation of low carbon projects:
The second edition of the Green and Inclusive Financing Forum, organised by GIZ Mexico, took place on September 23 and 24 2021. This virtual forum brought together leaders who formulate financing projects with representatives of public and private organisations from Mexico and the surrounding region, in order to generate a multi-stakeholder meeting and dialogue space. With the participation of 48 speakers from around the world, the forum aimed to promote a critical analysis of the key aspects of sustainable finance and a practical application of existing tools and methodologies.
Within the framework of this event, the discussion “Bridging the Gap in Project Financing” took place, in which five women panellists exchanged their knowledge and experiences on the subject. In particular, Alexandra Linden, Director of the Financing Energy for Low-Carbon Investment – Cities Advisory Facility (FELICITY), shared some of the lessons learned and future scenarios in the face of the global crisis.
Graphic report of the Conversation “Closing the gap in project financing”, Pinkfish, 2021.
With a view to a sustainable recovery, the FELICITY programme accompanies and advises low-carbon infrastructure projects, acting as a bridge between the latter and financial intermediaries. In the Virtual Forum, an overview was given of the two programmes that FELICITY accompanies in Mexico City and the municipality of Naucalpan de Juárez.
Alexandra Linden and Mara Eichinger during the conversation “Closing the gap in project financing”, FELICITY, 2021.
We share a summary of this financing meeting in Spanish and English.
You can consult the official page of the 2021 Financing Forum and the repository with the reports and presentations of each paper, as well as learn more about the key aspects of sustainable finance and its practical application in each of the presentations and discussions that took place on the two days of the 2021 Forum.
During the 11 sessions that addressed the topic of preparing successful investment projects (PreP), 2,149 attendees participated, covering 18 countries and 674 people enrolled in the online course, with 352 women participating.
PreP webinar series. FELICITY México and CONVERSA-CONGREXPO.
The sessions were held from September 2 to November 11, 2020, in a joint effort between the Global FELICITY Program and various programs related to climate finance and low-carbon projects in cities where GIZ participates –as well as government agencies, and national, regional and international organizations. The webinar series was held with the purpose of promoting the realization of sustainable and resilient projects, as well as closing the gap between low-carbon urban infrastructure projects and the financing required for their implementation.
Inauguration PreP. FELICITY Mexico
In addition to the webinars, the PreP includes an online course that complements the information shared by the specialists. Also, those who complete the course obtain a certificate.
This online course remains open and continues to allow enrollment of new users interested in learning more about low carbon project preparation. In addition, it is completely free. You just have to register at: https://www.ccfla-prep.org/. For more information, contact Miguel Fernández: miguel.fernandez@giz.de.
Final PreP infographic. CONVERSA – CONGREXPO. Participants by countries PreP. CONVERSA – CONGREXPO.Participants by country PreP. CONVERSA – CONGREXPO.Free Online PreP Course: PreP – The ABCs of Preparing Successful Investment Projects (ccfla-prep.org). FELICITY Mexico.
Throughout 2019, areas for improvement were identified in the socio-economic evaluation of Comprehensive Urban Solid Waste Management (MSW) projects, in particular the methodologies carried out by the Center for Studies for the Preparation and Socioeconomic Evaluation of Projects (CEPEP) and the Financing Energy for Low-Carbon Investment – Cities Advisory Facility (FELICITY) of the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH, with the support from the PIAPPEM consultancy. These methodologies will help the municipalities in decision-making for the implementation of projects.
Credits: Felicity. Own. Event Banner
In November, CEPEP and FELICITY co-organized very enriching spaces for the exchange of experiences for all participants, with an atmosphere of dialogue and shared experiences to strengthen the capacities of the sector.
Credits: Itzel Alcerreca. Interventions by the Head of the SHCP Investment Unit, Jorge Nuño Lara (left) and Helge Arends, Director of the GIZ Agenda 2030 Program (right).
On November 19, the first Technical Meeting was held on project preparation and evaluation; the event was co-organized by CEPEP and FELICITY. Jorge Nuño Lara, Head of the Investment Unit of the SHCP and Helge Arends, Director of the GIZ Agenda 2030 Program, participated in the event.
Presentations topics included:
National financing strategies, examples of sub-national cases, as well as the challenges and quantities of non-recoverable support that PRORESOL can contribute to infrastructure projects for Comprehensive MSW Management; given by Carlos Puente; Director of Energy, Environment and Water at FONADIN
International Presentations: Chile, represented by Eduardo Contreras, specialist in project evaluation at the University of Chile, who highlighted the value of multi-criteria analysis as a tool to locate and evaluate costs; and William Maroto, representative of Costa Rica, who presented us with success stories from MSW Comprehensive Management projects in the Oreamuno municipality of Costa Rica.
Credits: Itzel Alcerreca. Sharing Experiences at a Sub-national Level in Mexico (above) and Costa Rica (below).
Seventy people attended, 40% of them women. The attendees came from different sectors: financial, technical and project promoters, with national and international experience in project preparation, management, and evaluation.
Credits: Felicity. Collaborative distribution of the event participants.
As part of raising awareness of RSU management, on November 20, a brief exchange was held between internal SHCP personnel to identify the main challenges and areas for improvement in project preparation.
Credits: Itzel Alcerreca. Sharing challenges and areas for improvement with different areas of SHCP
Event information can be found here and presentations are available at the following link.
The project Financing Energy for Low-Carbon Investment – Cities Advisory Facility (FELICITY) completed an identification and selection round of projects that would receive technical accompaniment in 2019-2020. In this context, the team put together a report that evaluated the results of the process and extracted the lessons learned to improve the following rounds of project identification and inform the work of other preparative project platforms in Mexico, Brazil and China.
To understand and evaluate the FELICITY identification and selection process, as well as the associated achievements and challenges.
To consolidate and evaluate the results of the identification and selection process of FELICITY projects, taking into account the main characteristics of the requests and chosen projects.
To determine the lessons learned and formulate recommendations, not only to improve the selection of FELICITY projects themselves but also how FELICITY can adapt itself to reflect the necessities of cities.
To provide information that can aid the work of other platforms in the preparation of projects and associated initiatives.
Credits: FELICITY, 2019. FELICITY Lines of Work.
In the same way, recommendations were formulated in several areas such as improvement of communication, standardization of the application process, identification of local collaborators, and scheduling of the selection process.
Finally, a more comprehensive range of initiatives was recommended in terms of scope, sectors, and geographic coverage. Thus, the sector that prepares projects could be developed to include a broader range of initiatives that need assistance, which would allow an acceleration of support to scale in cities.
Credits: FELICITY, 2019. Sectorial Distribution of Projects Received in 2019.
Felicity is the initiative implemented by Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH; with the support of European Investment Bank (EIB) and the Germany’s Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMU), which offers technical assistance and the project preparation focused on low-carbon infrastructure in cities.
For more available information, consult the website GIZ-FELICITY.
