World Bank Group President Jim Yong Kim yesterday announced a major increase in the Bank Group’s financing to help countries combat climate change by building low carbon and resilient development.
The Bank’s President has announced the institution will increase its climate financing to potentially $29 billion a year by 2020, with the support of its members.
The announcement came at a special meeting of finance ministers from around the globe, hosted by France and Peru, on the sidelines of the Annual Meetings of the World Bank Group-IMF in Lima, Peru.
And it comes just about two months before this year’s COP21 conference in Paris, the international climate talks. In Paris, countries are expected to agree on negotiated text to work on financing issues, including the 2009 Copenhagen commitment for $100 billion a year for developing countries by 2020.
The Lima meeting, the first and last meeting of finance ministers ahead of Paris, saw real progress towards meeting that goal with all multilateral development banks making commitments on financing.
Ahead of Paris, countries have been lodging their national plans to tackle climate change – with the plans officially called the Intended Nationally determined Contributions (INDCs). Those national plans spell out countries’ efforts to bring down greenhouse gas emissions and adapt to a rapidly changing climate.
And they clearly signal developing countries’ need for more resources to help address the challenges of climate change.