Paris finance summit breaks new ground in climate and poverty fight - The Japan Times
Paris finance summit breaks new ground in climate and poverty fight | The Japan Times
BARCELONA – A new patchwork of pledges from the world’s biggest development lenders, set to release hundreds of billions of dollars for poorer nations, has raised hopes the financial floodgates are finally starting to open in tackling climate change and poverty.
This week’s Summit for a New Global Financing Pact in Paris — organized by French President Emmanuel Macron — aimed to secure funding for climate action and the green transition, and to ease the post-coronavirus debt burdens of developing nations.
The summit on Thursday and Friday was attended by more than 40 heads of state — including many from Africa — and the chiefs of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
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Research Program, says, “The assumption that current and future climate conditions will resemble the recent past is no longer valid.”