City Investments to Innovate, Integrate and Sustain (CITIIS) 2.0

Quick Facts

• Purpose: To promote innovative, sustainable urban infrastructure projects in selected Indian cities.
• Global Collaboration:
  • Loan support from France (AFD) and Germany (KfW).
  • Technical Assistance from the European Union (EU).
• Coordinated by: National Institute of Urban Affairs (NIUA).
• Tenure: 4 years (2023–2027).

Objectives

• Promote climate-sensitive urban planning through evidence-driven approaches.
• Encourage circular economy, focusing particularly on integrated waste management.
• Drive urban climate investments through competitively selected projects.
• Build institutional mechanisms and climate governance frameworks at State and city levels.
• Provide technical assistance, partnerships, and capacity building for climate action in Indian cities.

Background

• CITIIS 1.0 (2018):
  • Launched as a sub-component of Smart Cities Mission.
  • Supported 12 Indian cities with financial and technical assistance.
  • Focused on systematic planning before implementation, results-based monitoring frameworks, and technology adoption for program monitoring.
• CITIIS 2.0 (2023):
  • Expanded in scale and ambition.
  • Anchors India’s urban climate governance efforts.

Components of CITIIS 2.0

The mission is divided into three components:

🏙️ Component 1: City-Level Action

• Support for up to 18 competitively selected projects.
• Projects will promote circular economy (focus: integrated waste management).
• Ensure regional equity in project distribution.

🏛️ Component 2: State-Level Action

• All States and UTs eligible.
• Interventions include:
  • Establishment/strengthening of State Climate Centres or Climate Cells.
  • Creation of State- and City-level Climate Data Observatories.
  • Development of climate action plans using data-driven planning.
  • Building capacities of municipal functionaries.

🌐 Component 3: National-Level Action

• Focus on climate governance at the national level.
• Key interventions:
  • Technical Assistance (TA)
  • Knowledge Capitalisation (sharing lessons, best practices)
  • Communications & Outreach (awareness and stakeholder engagement)
  • CITIIS Management Platform (CMP) for monitoring & coordination
  • Monitoring & Evaluation (M&E) for results-based learning and scaling up

(TA → Knowledge Capitalisation → Communications → CMP → M&E)

Salient Features

• Promotes evidence-based climate planning across all levels—city, state, and national.
• Anchors capacity building for municipal officials.
• Ensures replicable, scalable models of sustainable urban infrastructure.
• Encourages knowledge partnerships with global institutions.
• Bridges urban and climate governance in India.

✨ Conclusion

In essence, CITIIS 2.0 is not just a scheme for financing urban projects, but a comprehensive climate action framework.
It integrates global financial and technical partnerships with India’s urban governance systems, ensuring that cities move towards sustainability, resilience, and innovation.

For UPSC, remember:

• Launch Year: 2023 (CITIIS 2.0), CITIIS 1.0 in 2018.
• Coordinator: NIUA.
• Global partners: France, Germany, EU.
• Focus: Circular economy + climate-sensitive planning.
• Structure: 3 components (City, State, National).