The Global District Energy in Cities Initiative is supporting national and municipal governments develop, retrofit or scale up district energy systems, with support from the private sector. The Initiative is bringing together cities, academia, technology providers and financial institutions in a joint ambition to build the necessary capacity while engaging all stakeholders. Twinning between cities, matching champion ones with learned ones, is a key component of the Global District Energy in Cities Initiative. The Initiative has engaged many cities and is continuously signing up new champion cities and learning cities that are exchanging best practice and learning through the Initiative’s activities. Furthermore, the Initiative has partnered with leading private sector actors, as well as industry associations that commit to contributing technical expertise to the Initiative’s activities. City networks such as ICLEI and C40 help the Initiative connect cities globally.The Initiative also receives significant support from intergovernmental and government organisations such as UN-Habitat, the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and the Global Environment Facility (GEF).
