Exclusive: Top development banks at COP28 vow to up climate ... - Reuters.com
Exclusive: Top development banks at COP28 vow to up climate game, quiet on fossil fuels - document | Reuters
Exclusive: Top development banks at COP28 vow to up climate game, quiet on fossil fuels - document
[1/2]Delegates walk at Dubai's Expo City during the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP28), in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, December 2, 2023. REUTERS/Thaier Al-Sudani Acquire Licensing Rights
- Summary
- Ten leading development banks sign joint statement
- To deepen collaboration across multiple themes
- No mention of phasing out fossil fuel financing
DUBAI, Dec 3 (Reuters) - Ten of the world's top development banks pledged to step up their climate efforts at the COP28 summit, yet failed to say anything about halting financing for fossil fuel projects, a document seen by Reuters showed.
In a statement to be announced at the event in Dubai, the group, including the World Bank and regional peers, said the window of opportunity to secure a liveable planet was "rapidly closing".
Calls to overhaul the way the banks are run in response to the climate crisis have picked up amid record extreme weather events, and while the group disbursed a record $61 billion in finance in 2022, it remains just a fraction of what is needed.
With global emissions rising and despite United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres telling world leaders on Friday that ending fossil fuel use was the only way to save the planet, the statement made no direct mention of the issue.
To date, the European Investment Bank is the only one of the signatories to sign the so-called 'Glasgow Declaration' and committed to stop lending to fossil fuel projects, with burning of the energy sources responsible for the bulk of human-induced greenhouse gas emissions.
Going forward, the banks said they plan to agree a common approach to tracking and reporting climate impact, and would scale up the use of analytics to help countries identify priorities and investment opportunities.
A new, joint Long-term Strategies Program, hosted by the World Bank, would coordinate support to help countries and sub-national entities develop plans around issues including decarbonisation and climate resilience.
The group also pledged to help countries set up platforms to encourage a "collectively reinforcing combination" of support including around policy reform, finance and technical assistance.
To attract more private capital, the group said it would look at activities including removing "distorting" subsidies and developing pipelines of green projects.
The banks planned to scale up finance to help countries adapt to the impacts of climate change, including through boosting support for disaster risk management, disaster preparedness and capacity building.
They also planned to "strengthen collaboration" across nature, water, health and gender
"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," the statement said.
Editing by Bernadette Baum
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
Read Next
COP28 Suez Canal and Scatec sign $1.1 bln green methanol MoU
Egypt's Suez Canal economic zone and Scatec ASA have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) worth $1.1 billion to supply ships with green fuel, a Suez Canal statement said on Sunday.
Indonesia, ADB, owners agree to shutter first coal-fired power station early
Indonesia and the Asian Development Bank have agreed a provisional deal with the owners of the Cirebon-1 coal-fired power plant to shutter it almost seven years earlier than planned, the ADB's senior climate change energy specialist told Reuters.
Related Knowledge Center: Climate economics
Climate change is now a driver of the world’s economy. The impact is profound:
- Catastrophic weather events — hurricanes, floods, droughts, high temperatures — are more frequent and more extreme. The cost can be measured in both the initial damage caused and the longer-term impact on the economy.
- Vulnerable communities are increasing climate-related investments, hardening infrastructure and taking other protective measures.
- Investment in carbon capture and storage technologies is increasingly rapidly.
- Governments are making investments and crafting regulations to reduce emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases.
On top of all of this is the cost of uncertainty. As the Fourth National Climate Assessment, released in 2018 by the U.S. Global Change Research Program, says, “The assumption that current and future climate conditions will resemble the recent past is no longer valid.”