In a joint statement, the heads of the African Development Bank, Asian Development Bank, European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, European Investment Bank (EIB), Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), World Bank Group and International Monetary Fund pledged to use their organizations’ mandates, expertise and resources to help authorities combine with the private sector to confront the challenges of climate change and to make the best possible use of available financing.
The heads also committed their organisations to the use of technical assistance and funds to further support their environmental goals, a news release from the IDB said. They recognised the primacy of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in setting the targets for dealing with global environmental challenges. An agreement in Copenhagen must provide an ambitious, comprehensive and equitable global climate change regime beyond 2012 that enables all countries to achieve sustainable development, they said. The institutions will coordinate with the European Commission and other partners supporting efforts by developing countries to cope with climate change.
According to the IDB release, the leaders reiterated their commitment to help developing nations adapt to climate change and to facilitate the development and transfer of climate-friendly technology and knowledge according to the needs of individual countries.
EIB President Philippe Maystadt was quoted as saying that the joint statement shows the strong commitment of the EIB and the other International Financial Institutions (IFIs) to coordinate further their support to the UNFCCC Parties. “We must innovatively deploy the full arsenal of instruments and resources at our disposal to maximize the use of financial flows by our client partners. Together with the other IFIs, the EIB is committed to provide packages of technical assistance and finance that blend loans, grants, equity, and carbon finance – and to support the carbon markets beyond 2012,” he said.
IDB President Luis Alberto Moreno added that “Developing countries have shown that practical solutions to the challenge of low carbon growth and climate resilient development are available right now. The challenge is to scale up these solutions through both public and private financing, and in this area the MDBs can contribute by providing technical and financial assistance to enable effective use of concessional finance such as the CIF and to help increase access to the carbon market.”
In their Joint statement, the heads appealed to the Parties to the UNFCCC to agree in Copenhagen the foundations for an ambitious, comprehensive, and equitable global climate change regime that enables all countries to achieve sustainable development along climate-resilient and low greenhouse gas emission-intensive paths. Noting that climate change is a major threat to sustainable development in all regions of the world, and with climate change already happening and with more severe impacts to follow, it is essential that all countries integrate consideration of risks associated with climate change into their planning functions and development strategies, the heads said.
There is an urgent need to support the poorest countries and communities that are most vulnerable and least able to adapt to climate change, they added. Stabilising atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases within safe levels would require adequate, predictable and sustainable financial flows to developing countries, as well as policies in all major economies conducive to the creation of a broadly similar carbon price signal around the world, the statement added.
The banks pledged to help developing countries, in particular the least developed countries, adapt to climate change and strengthen the climate resilience of their development processes; help ensure that the world economy develops along a sustainable greenhouse gas emissions pathway; promote sustainable development, respecting human rights in all client countries, and help developing countries achieve the Millennium Development Goals; facilitate and enable access to finance for the development and transfer of climate-friendly technology and knowledge according to the needs and priorities of partner countries; and, promote market based solutions and mobilize and leverage private sector finance in support of climate change objectives.
The statement said that in order to facilitate efficient and effective public and private investment, the Banks endeavour to further coordinate their financing of climate actions within a common framework in accordance with their respective mandates, expertise, and resources. “Such a framework will benefit from lessons learnt from our cooperation past and present, including recently-established Climate Investment Funds executed by the MDBs. As part of this common framework, we will seek to provide and facilitate country-driven, comprehensive packages of technical assistance and financing which may include blends of loans, grants, equity, carbon finance, and guarantees as appropriate and available. We will also seek to leverage public funds with private financial flows so as to mobilize market-based financing for climate investments,” the joint statement said.
The banks also pledged to work to scale up financing for adaptation, developing projects and programmes that contribute to greater climate resilience, supporting national adaptation strategies, strengthening related institutions, and providing technical assistance and insurance products.
Further, they pledged, following the outcome of the UNFCCC negotiations, they are ready to scale up their support of processes that generate positive incentives relating to reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation in developing countries. “We recognize agriculture, the building sector, industry and municipal infrastructure as other important sectors where opportunities exist to reduce emissions with proper incentives, capacity-building and technical support”, they said.
Among other pledges, the IFI’s stated that they will further support increasing public and private sector investment to scale-u projects and programmes in energy efficiency, renewable energy, and sustainable transportation systems. They also endeavoured to work together to facilitate the continuity of and to reinforce the carbon market and related mechanisms beyond 2012. They will also seek to continue coordinating and harmonizing their respective approaches, processes and practices in the field of climate change to ensure a high-quality service to clients, and to coordinate as appropriate with others supporting developing countries efforts to cope with climate change.
