Climate finance must be accelerated.
As Day.Az reports with reference to Trend, the Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) said this. Simon Steele speaking at an online event for the Brookings Institution’s Global Economy and Development Program.
In his speech, he noted the significant progress achieved over the past decade.
“More than a trillion US dollars were invested globally in climate action last year, up from several hundred billion a decade ago,” he said.
He also mentioned that according to the OECD, developed countries provided and mobilized more than $100 billion in climate finance for developing countries in 2022.
However, as Steele emphasized, despite the progress made, this is not enough. He emphasized the need for further increases in funding, especially given the scale of damage climate change is causing in both poor and rich countries.
“Many were hit hard by the devastation of Hurricanes Milton and Helen. And even those who escaped immediate damage were hit hard by inflation as supply chains became blocked and disrupted. With an uneven global transformation, everyone will soon lose. Because “Averting the devastating impact of the climate crisis on the economies of all countries, including the largest, can only be done if every country has the means to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and build climate resilience,” he added.
In his opinion, trillions of dollars of investment are needed to protect the global economy.
“This will be a critical investment in protecting the global economy, and will represent only a fraction of the costs that every country will bear if we allow the climate crisis to continue, claiming more lives and livelihoods every year. International climate finance must grow and strengthen to fit the current moment,” Steele said.
The upcoming annual World Bank conference, according to Steele, is an important opportunity to strengthen this process.
“Multilateral development banks will be at the heart of this transformation. Just this week, the World Bank announced an expansion of concessional climate lending. And the IMF is exploring ways to integrate climate action and climate risk into its work. This is good news. But incremental increases will not lead to an exponential surge in investment and green growth. We need acceleration when it comes to climate finance, and without more ambitious action, all economies will fail,” the Executive Secretary said.
Steele called for more ambitious measures, noting that many countries are facing debt crises, limiting their ability to invest in climate programs.
“At the World Bank’s annual conference, we should see further signals that the Bank and the IMF are committed to ensuring that developing countries have the means and fiscal space to take climate action and invest, rather than face extreme levels of debt burden and sky-high cost of capital. Easing the debt burden and introducing additional climate clauses on debt is just the beginning. The same applies to the replenishment of the International Development Association of the World Bank. And the leading role here is not only for the development banks of the Group of 20. are the largest shareholders of these institutions, must fund them properly and demand more, including broader reforms of the international financial architecture, and work to find new and innovative sources of funding,” he added.
Steele stressed that the ambitious results of the World Bank’s annual conference are critical to delivering bolder climate action that promotes inclusive economic development and stronger societies.