Multilateral development banks on Monday reaffirmed their commitment to climate finance, pledging to scale up innovative financing to boost climate adaptation and resilience.
“Climate finance is an investment, not a cost.” This was the key message from senior MDB officials at the end of a side event hosted by the Climate Investment Fund (CIF) on the first day of the 30th United Nations Climate Conference (COP30) in Belem, Brazil. The conference will be held from November 10th to 21st.
In a panel discussion titled “Accelerating Climate Change Adaptation at Scale,” representatives from MDBs, including the African Development Bank Group, outlined how their institutions are delivering on their Paris Agreement commitments by mobilizing substantive and innovative resources for climate adaptation and mitigation.
Resilience to climate change: investment opportunities
Ilan Goldfein, President of the Inter-American Development Bank Group, emphasized that “resilience is more than a concern for the future; it is essential to progress today.” He announced that MDBs will triple their resilience lending over the next 10 years, targeting $42 billion by 2030.
“At the Inter-American Development Bank, we are turning preparedness into protection and resilience into opportunity,” Goldfagin added.
Tanja Farah, Director of Technical Assessment and Monitoring at the Council of Europe Development Bank, stressed that climate change “not only creates new threats, but also amplifies existing inequalities. The most vulnerable will be hit the hardest and will be the last to recover. This is how the climate crisis also becomes a social crisis.”
Representatives from the Islamic Development Bank, the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, the Asian Development Bank, the World Bank Group, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the European Investment Bank, the New Development Bank, and IDB Invest (the private arm of the Inter-American Development Bank Group) also shared examples of successful adaptation investments and strategies to mobilize new resources.
African Development Bank leads by example
Kevin Kariuki, African Development Bank Group Vice President for Power, Energy, Climate and Green Growth, highlighted the bank’s leadership in advancing climate adaptation and mitigation. “At the African Development Bank, we understand our country’s priorities. Adaptation and mitigation are at the heart of climate action.”
He highlighted the creation of the Climate Action Window, a new financing mechanism under the World Bank Group’s concessional window for low-income countries, the African Fund for Development.
“The African Development Bank is the only multilateral development bank with a portfolio of adaptation projects ready for investment through the Climate Change Framework,” Kariuki said, adding that Germany, the United Kingdom and Switzerland are among the key co-financing partners.
Mr. Kariuki also highlighted the World Bank’s YouthADAPT program, which has invested $5.4 million in 41 youth-led businesses in 20 African countries, created more than 10,000 jobs, 61 percent of which are led by women, and mobilized an additional $7 million in private and donor funding.
Representatives from Zambia, Mozambique and Jamaica also shared their local perspectives on the financing needs of communities most exposed to climate risks.
Lula launches COP on Amazon
The panel discussion followed the official opening of COP30, where Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva passionately called for increased investment in climate change to prevent a “tragedy of humanity.”
“Without the Paris Agreement, global temperatures will rise by 4 to 5 degrees Celsius,” Lula warned. “Our call to action is based on three pillars: keeping our promises, accelerating public action on a roadmap that enables humanity to move away from fossil fuels and deforestation, and putting humanity at the center of climate programs. Thousands of people are living in poverty and poverty as a result of climate change.”
“The climate emergency is a crisis of inequality,” he continued. “We must build a future that is not doomed to tragedy. We must ensure that we live in a world where we can still dream.”
Azerbaijan’s Environment Minister Mukhtar Babayehun, the outgoing COP president, called on developed countries to fulfill their Baku commitments, including a pledge to mobilize $300 billion for climate finance. He called for stronger political will and multilateral cooperation before handing over the COP Presidency to Brazilian diplomat Andre Correa do Lago, who is currently leading negotiations.
Distributed by APO Group on behalf of African Development Bank Group (AfDB).
Copyright: Fresh Angle International (www.freshangleng.com)
ISSN 2354 – 4104
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