WBG commitment in Lima to increase climate financing

The World Bank Group on October 9, in Lima, Peru, announced it will increase climate financing to potentially $29 billion annually with the support of its members, giving a huge boost to global efforts to help countries tackle the impacts of climate change and move toward low-carbon growth.

Currently, 21 percent of the Bank Group’s funding is climate related. President Jim Yong Kim said today that could rise to 28 percent in 2020 in response to client demand, representing a one-third increase in climate financing. The World Bank Group now provides an average of $10.3 billion a year in direct financing for climate action. If current financing levels were maintained, this would mean an increase to $16 billion in 2020.

In addition, the Bank Group plans to continue current levels of leveraging co-financing for climate-related projects; at current financing levels, that could mean up to another $13 billion a year in 2020. The direct financing and leveraged co-financing together represent an estimated $29 billion.

The announcement was made during the Annual Meetings of World Bank Group and IMF in Lima in a private meeting of ministers who gathered to talk about climate financing ahead of the 21st Conference of the Parties (COP21). The climate meeting will be held in Paris at the end of November and December and aims to strike a global agreement on climate, which includes delivering on a promise to provide developing countries with $100 billion a year in climate financing by 2020. The World Bank Group’s announcement responds to developing countries’ calls for new resources to help address climate challenges.

“We are committed to scaling up our support for developing countries to battle climate change,” Kim said. “As we move closer to Paris, countries have identified trillions of dollars of climate-related needs. The Bank, with the support of our members, will respond ambitiously to this great challenge.”

The World Bank Group’s climate finance pledge is dependent on client demand and on maintaining current financial capacity. The Bank Group’s Board has agreed to a roadmap to review its shareholding and financing capacity in the coming years. The investments will boost support for renewable energy and energy efficiency, climate-smart transport solutions, resilient cities, the restoration of degraded forests and landscapes, enhanced water security, and agricultural practices.

In the meeting of ministers, which was called by Peru and France, Kim called the financing of climate action a “collective challenge. … We all know that country needs for ending extreme poverty and boosting sharing prosperity and combatting climate change are enormous. Together, all of us here will have to find ways to respond to the expected rising demand.”

Rachel Kyte, Bank Group Vice President and Special Envoy for Climate Change, added: “Working together, the multi-lateral development banks are showing that we will respond to the incredible demand seen in the national contribution plans filed with the United Nations. Now our focus shifts from the commitment to finance to executing the projects and programs that will make a difference in people’s lives.”

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