As the official explained, cities under the program need to commit to improving their environmental performance and promoting the transition to green, low-carbon and resilient futures.

“The key criterion for the cities is to commit to the development and implementation of a Green City Action Plan (GCAP) and launch a trigger investment project with the EBRD. In addition, eligible cities need to have a population of at least 50,000 residents. If there was a relevant request, we could look at potential opportunities on a project-by-project basis,” Makhmudova added.

According to the country head, Ganja became the first city in Azerbaijan to join EBRD Green Cities in March 2020. The first-ever project was signed in May 2022 and concerned the solid waste sector. The EBRD works with the Ganja city Executive Power, the Ministry of Economy of Azerbaijan and other government organizations to develop pilot projects.

The EBRD has already allocated 10 million euros to improve the solid waste collection services in Ganja city with modern and energy-efficient vehicles, specialized containers and bins, digital collection systems and other improvement works.

Currently, the EBRD plans to sign a new street lighting project within the EBRD Green Cities program in Azerbaijan’s Ganja city in the upcoming months.

“As immediate next steps, we hope to sign the Ganja street lighting project and start project preparation works for the development of a modern, EU-compliant landfill near Ganja city,” she said.

For the street lighting project, in addition to the EBRD loan, the Bank has secured a 2.5 million euros investment grant from E5P Fund, supported by the EU and other international donors, the official noted.

In parallel, the EBRD is launching the preparation of the Green City Action Plan for Ganja city - a comprehensive, integrated and multi-disciplinary strategic plan to develop Ganja’s long-term vision for infrastructure assets development. This assignment starts this month, she said.

“We are very excited to welcome beautiful Ganja to the EBRD Green Cities program. This is the Bank’s prominent urban development project that supports cities to overcome their environmental challenges with sustainable infrastructure investments, policy initiatives and capacity building. It helps cities to build a better and more sustainable future for their residents by systematically assessing the cities’ infrastructure needs and developing measures to tackle them. Our program has proved that not only it improves lives for citizens, but also reduces healthcare and policing costs,” Makhmudova added.

As Makhmudova noted, the EBRD hopes to start working with new Green Cities in Azerbaijan in the nearest future.

EBRD Green Cities offers more than 5 billion euros of EBRD and donor support to cities. Through the program, the Bank can work with public and private sector clients to invest in a wide range of sustainable urban infrastructure measures including: district energy, green buildings and building retrofits, renewable energy, distribution system, urban transport, street lighting, urban climate resilience, water and wastewater, solid waste, smart solutions and nature-based solutions, she added.

“As we know, behind every successful project, there is a talented team. We noted the high level of professionalism and competence both at Ministry and at the City levels. We are in touch with the Government to support infrastructure investments in transport, utility, energy, telecommunications and other sectors, and to participate in the ongoing transformation work in state-owned companies, which we fully support. Our key focus, however, is on working with private companies to support their competitiveness, good governance and green economy transition, as set out in the EBRD’s Azerbaijan Country Strategy for 2019-2024,” she added.