Zurich contributes to a fund created to address climate resilience and social inequities

The Z Zurich Foundation, a Swiss-based charitable foundation established by members of the Zurich Insurance Group, has provided initial funding of $500,000 as part of a multi-year commitment to the North America Climate Resilience Program, which will initially focus on protecting vulnerable communities in five U.S. Cities, including Houston and Boston. The program designed to strengthen climate resilience and help address social inequities in vulnerable communities is seeking additional investors to fund the work to be done in those communities.

Zurich North America will help administer the overarching program with Resilient Cities Network (R-Cities), which will identify neighborhoods, convene community and government partners, and deploy its Resilient Community Impact Fund (RCIFund) to catalyze direct investment into projects.

R-Cities brings more than 10 years of urban resilience experience and a strong connection to cities through its global network of Chief Resilience Officers (CROs). Most of these CROs regularly seek funding to implement their holistic resilience projects. The RCIFund was developed to deploy catalytic, grant-based funding for cities to support existing resilience strategies around the globe.

“The RCIFund is an important tool to gather the much-needed resources to finance projects on the ground in these communities,” said Gregory Renand, Head of the Z Zurich Foundation. “Real success, however, will depend on additional investments from like-minded peers, which is why we’re calling upon others to join us to create more climate-resilient communities and address social inequity.”

The RCIFund is seeking minimum donor contributions of $250,000 to any pool or sub-fund, which could be dedicated to up to five projects in any R-Cities member city that has a resilience strategy and a Chief Resilience Officer.

“We are calling investors interested in the long-term economic vitality and resilience of urban places to join us in this important effort. The Z Zurich Foundation has taken a bold step in committing to support urban infrastructure that delivers toward climate and social equity goals,” said Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner, Chair of Resilient Cities Network Board. “Cities have these types of projects ready to go; it’s now on funders to come to the table.”