According to a document seen by Reuters, ten of the world’s leading development banks have vowed to increase their efforts to combat climate change at the COP28 summit, but they did not address the issue of ending financing for fossil fuel projects.
During the event in Dubai, the group, which includes the World Bank and other regional peers, stated that the window of opportunity to safeguard a habitable planet is “rapidly closing”.
Amid record extreme weather events, calls to reform the way the banks operate in response to the climate crisis have intensified. Despite disbursing a record $61 billion in finance in 2022, it remains a small fraction of what is actually needed.
The group’s statement did not directly mention the issue of global emissions rising, despite United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres informing world leaders that abandoning fossil fuel use is the only way to save the planet.
So far, the European Investment Bank is the only one of the signatories to adopt the ‘Glasgow Declaration’ and commit to ending lending for fossil fuel projects, which are responsible for the majority of human-induced greenhouse gas emissions.
In the future, the banks intend to establish a common approach for tracking and reporting climate impact, as well as increase the use of analytics to help countries identify priorities and investment opportunities.
A new joint Long-term Strategies Program, hosted by the World Bank, will coordinate support to help countries and sub-national entities develop plans relating to decarbonization and climate resilience.
The group has also pledged to assist countries in creating platforms to encourage a “collectively reinforcing combination” of support, including policy reform, finance, and technical assistance.
In order to attract more private capital, the group plans to explore activities such as removing “distorting” subsidies and developing pipelines for green projects.
The banks also plan to increase financing to help countries adapt to the impacts of climate change by boosting support for disaster risk management, disaster preparedness, and capacity building.
Additionally, they plan to “strengthen collaboration” across nature, water, health, and gender.
The statement said, “Reflecting the urgency and scale of the issues to be addressed, we are boosting our joint action on climate and development, strengthening our collaboration to scale up finance and enhance results measurement, strengthen country-level collaboration, and increase co-financing and private sector engagement.”
(Editing by Bernadette Baum)
