Unlocking Climate Resilience Through Land Value Capture

Join Just Communities and the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy for a critical conversation that challenges the assumption that climate action is too expensive for local governments. This presentation examines land value capture (LVC) as a powerful, underutilized source of financing for local climate investments. We will review relevant instruments and discuss how they can be implemented to build inclusive, resilient development that centers community power.

Overview

The magnitude of the climate crisis presents an opportunity to look beyond the extractive economic and financial systems that have been complicit in fueling current challenges.

As cities worldwide explore innovative financing mechanisms to fund climate investments, the evidence base is growing: local governments can and should leverage the largely untapped resource of land to sustainably finance climate interventions.

Drawing on recent Lincoln Institute research projects, this presentation will demonstrate how public climate interventions, including low-carbon transportation and green infrastructure, positively impact land values. Crucially, we will explore how cities can capture a portion of that value to compensate for their investment and generate additional public benefit, ensuring that the wealth created by public projects returns to the public.

What You Will Learn

• How jurisdictions globally have used LVC mechanisms to fund climate mitigation and adaptation without displacing communities.
• The rationale behind common LVC instruments and the practical steps required to implement them locally.
• How LVC can move beyond being just another municipal revenue stream to actively fostering inclusive, resilient development.
• Emerging research and resources that demonstrate LVC’s potential as a viable financing mechanism for local climate action.

About the Speakers

Tsedey Betru | Director, Just Communities

Tsedey Betru leads Just Communities, an initiative of the Partnership for Southern Equity. Her work focuses on equipping communities with the tools and frameworks needed to assert power over local development and ensure that equity is a structural requirement in the built environment.

Patrick Welch | Associate Director, Urban Sustainability, Lincoln Institute of Land Policy

Patrick Welch is the associate director of urban sustainability at the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy, contributing to the institute’s work on land-based climate finance, equitable climate adaptation and resilience, and scenario planning. He has more than eight years of experience working in planning, international development, and environmental policy at a variety of scales in both the public and private sector.