Cambodia is experiencing rapid urban growth, with nearly 25 percent of its 17 million residents now living in cities. This figure is expected to reach six million by 2050. Urbanization has brought economic opportunities but has also increased inequality and exposure to climate-related risks such as flooding and extreme heat.
Phnom Penh’s expansion since the 1980s has quadrupled the city’s footprint, reduced wetland areas, and contributed to more frequent and severe floods. The city now faces up to 25 days of heatwaves each year, a rate five times higher than nearby rural areas. In addition, built-up urban areas were responsible for 37 percent of Cambodia’s greenhouse gas emissions in 2015.
To address these challenges, the World Bank's City Climate Finance Gap Fund provided early-stage technical assistance between 2022 and 2023. The support aimed to help Phnom Penh municipality and the Ministry of Land Management Urban Planning and Construction strengthen their urban planning processes by integrating climate risk considerations into long-term strategies.
The Gap Fund collaborated with local stakeholders to develop an urban planning tool that analyzed spatial data and projected different development scenarios through 2050. These scenarios included business-as-usual growth, implementation of current national plans, and adoption of low-carbon policies targeting net zero emissions. The tool enabled officials to evaluate how various policy choices would impact land use, energy consumption, water management, public transport access, emissions levels, and delivery of public services.
As a result of this analysis:
- Phnom Penh drafted a city resilience assessment.
- Targeted policy recommendations were developed alongside emissions projections and estimated financing needs for key infrastructure projects in mobility, energy supply, wastewater treatment, and solid waste management.
- The Green City Strategic Plan was updated (pending approval).
- Implementation costs for climate-smart development were estimated at $7.5 billion.
- Thirty-five municipal and national officials received training on scenario planning.
- Coordination improved among ministries through an inter-agency steering committee.
City goals now include reducing urban sprawl via compact development models; improving access to amenities and transit networks; constructing 100 kilometers of new bus routes; cutting greenhouse gas emissions by 40 percent; reducing residential sector energy use by over a third; halting increases in surface temperatures; and expanding wetland coverage.
These measures have influenced both local planning in Phnom Penh as well as national discussions—shaping debates at the second Cambodia Urban and Housing Forum in May 2024 and informing content for the World Bank’s Country Climate Development Report (CCDR) on Cambodia.
Following progress in Phnom Penh, the Gap Fund extended similar technical support to seven additional cities: Battambang, Kampot, Kep, Khemarak Phoumin (Koh Kong), Poipet, Siem Reap, and Sihanoukville. Local governments received assistance drafting climate strategies tailored to their contexts; prioritizing infrastructure investments; developing low-carbon action plans; conducting project pre-feasibility studies; and identifying investment priorities.
Early engagement by the Gap Fund helped build trust across government levels while setting foundations for further support in these cities.
Nationally, Gap Fund efforts are contributing to Cambodia’s National Urban Policy development process led by the Ministry of Land Management Urban Planning Construction. To date this work has identified $127.4 million in potential climate-related investments nationwide while training around one hundred government officials on best practices for sustainable urban development.
“This story was prepared by Rajeshree Sisodia, Consultant, World Bank and Sandrine Boukerche, Senior Climate Change Specialist, World Bank. It was funded by the City Climate Finance Gap Fund, a Multi-Donor Trust Fund with support from the Governments of Germany and Luxembourg.”