Hello Friend,

Gabrielle: When I was about 15, my mum’s New Year’s resolution was to learn the entire poem: The Rime of the Ancient Mariner by Samuel Taylor Coleridge (spoiler alert: she didn’t quite get there). For months, I would hear her muttering the lines to herself around the house. There’s one section in particular that has stuck with me, and I come back to in my climate work again and again:

Water, water, every where,

And all the boards did shrink;

Water, water, every where,

Nor any drop to drink.

Working in climate and trying to finance local government climate work feels like this stanza. There is more than enough money in the wider ecosystem to finance the essential adaptation and mitigation work to create thriving, climate-resilient communities, towns, and cities. Yet, cities struggle to mobilise capital for climate action.

Jane: Enough with the metaphors, let’s get to the point! Nearly three years ago, we joined up with our friends at the TransCap Initiative and Climate-KIC to research why this is, and what we could do about it. In response, we developed the Systemic Funding Architecture (SFA) – a framework for cities grounded in systems innovation for urban climate finance. It emphasises the importance of breaking down silos, identifying where change could have the greatest impact, and building portfolios of interventions that align both public and private capital.

But research alone isn’t enough. The real test was whether a city government would be bold enough to try this approach in practice.

Enter Dublin City Council. 

Together with the TransCap Initiative, we’ve spent the last nine months working in deep partnership with Dublin City Council. We’ve been exploring how existing funding and new forms of finance could enable the conversion of vacant buildings to social housing, in line with Dublin’s climate and housing goals.

Repurposing existing buildings = lower emissions

While this learning journey is focused on shifting funding flows and encouraging innovation in finance, it’s also about the relationships, capabilities, and conditions that are critical to systemic change.

If any of this resonates with you, please reach out. We love talking about this work and the systemic change needed for thriving, resilient, and climate-secure places. (And we promise, no poems need to be involved! Unless that’s your thing…)

Best wishes,

Gabrielle Beran and Jane Urheim

🔗 Connect with Gabrielle on LinkedIn

🔗 Connect with Jane on LinkedIn

What else we've been talking about

• 👩‍🍼 What happens when a city takes women’s unpaid work seriously?: Bogotá’s “care blocks” give women time, support, and access. With 25 hubs already open and a U.S. city set to adopt the model in 2026, it’s becoming a global blueprint for recognising and redistributing unpaid work.

 

• 🔮 Can a city's residents shape its AI future?: Washington, D.C.’s new platform, Deliberation.io, is inviting residents to anonymously share views on how the city should support AI innovation. In just a few months, it’s helping officials tap real community perspectives to guide emerging AI policy.
  
  

• 🌊 What does climate justice look like in a world shaped by colonialism and inequality?: In the latest episode of Reimagining Government, Dr. Farhana Sultana unpacks how climate coloniality shapes today’s policies, why Global South voices remain sidelined, and how centring equity and care can redefine global climate action.