Climate conference: 180 billion dollars for climate change measures

Development banks pledged up to 180 billion dollars in funding for climate action at the COP28 conference in Dubai. This is expected to make it significantly easier for climate initiatives to access this funding.

As reported on the official website of the climate conference COP 28, climate protection and adaptation measures should have easier access to funding in the future. The World Bank has pledged to allocate 45% of its funding to climate initiatives by 2025. The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), for example, has set a target of tripling its climate financing to 150 billion dollars over the next ten years.

At COP 28, the banks jointly declared their intention to develop common methods for reporting climate results and unveiled a long-term strategy tool to support decarbonisation and climate resilience. Representatives of the largest players in banking also outlined shared principles for tracking nature-positive finance. COP28 President Sultan Al Jaber welcomed this unprecedented commitment and emphasised the key role climate finance will play in their ongoing work.

According to their representatives, emerging and developing countries need more than 2.4 trillion dollars a year in climate finance by 2030. Development banks responded to this need with their own funding commitments. The IDB’s plans, for example, include financing sustainable projects in the Amazon, expanding lending capacity and providing incentives to meet climate and nature targets.

World Bank President Ajay Banga pledged to increase climate funding to 40 billion dollars a year by 2025, with significant resources allocated to access to clean energy in Africa.

The Asian Development Bank, for example, also pledged 10 billion dollars for the Philippines at the climate conference, while the Islamic Development Bank’s commitment of 1 billion dollars will go towards adaptation in conflict-affected countries.
The African Development Bank will focus on green infrastructure and insuring the agricultural sector against the impacts of climate change.

A commitment of this scale is unprecedented in the history of climate change negotiations. The UN Climate Change Conference was held in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, from 30 November to 12 December 2023.