Environment: development banks united in support of the fight against climate change

Just before the opening of the UN climate change summit in New York today, nine multilateral development banks announced that they decided to start five initiatives to “help their customers adapt to and mitigate climate risks”. In particular, the European Investment Bank, the African Development Bank, the Islamic Development Bank, along with Adb, Aiib, Idb, the World Bank, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, and the New Development Bank, “individually committed to supporting the rise in funding for climate” and reaching “at least 65 billion US dollars a year by 2025”. In this way, the amount of funds for climate supported by such banks would total 175 billion US dollars a year by 2025. Then, the banks undertook “to develop a new transparency framework to report about the impact of each bank’s efforts and the way each bank helps its customers fulfil and exceed their obligations”. In addition, each bank “will take measures to support its customers” in their choices to quit fossil fuels. “In every one of our initiatives, we will strive to build and strengthen partnerships that implement aids for their customers”, the joint release states: from a greater sharing of international good practices about the climate-related financial disclosure to working with commercial banks, with national governments, the private sector, the donors’ community, social organisations and global climate funds, “to accomplish an ambitious transformation, in keeping with the requirements of the Paris agreement”.