Yemisi Izuora
The World Bank has revealed that it has exceeded its financing target in new energy.
According to the bank, in fiscal year 2018, 32.1 per cent of its financing had climate co-benefits already exceeding the target set in 2015 that 28 per cent of its lending volume would be climate-related by 2020.
“We have not just exceeded our climate targets on paper, we have transformed the way we work with countries and are seeing major transitions to renewable energy, clean and resilient transport systems, climate-smart agriculture and sustainable cities,” said World Bank CEO, Kristalina Georgieva.
This amounted to a record-setting $20.5 billion in climate-related finance delivered in the last fiscal year, the result of an institution-wide effort to mainstream climate considerations into all development projects.
“This gives the most vulnerable people a fighting chance against climate change, by confronting and adapting to today’s impacts and working to contain future damage to our planet,” Georgieva added.
The 28 per cent target was a key goal of the bank group’s Climate Change Action Plan, adopted in April 2016, and was designed to support countries to deliver on their national goals under the Paris Agreement on climate change.
The resulting increase in financing for climate action has driven strong results, including generating or integrating 18 gigawatts of additional renewable energy into electricity grids and mobilising over $10 billion in commercial finance for clean energy.
This has also led to developing 22 investment plans for climate-smart agriculture in 20 countries as well as investment of $784 million in improving climate-resilient transport systems; and providing 38 million people in 18 countries with access to reliable climate information and early warning systems to deal with more frequent and intense natural disasters such as floods and hurricanes.
According to the World Bank, it’s main lending arms, International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, IBRD and The International Development Association, IDA, have almost doubled the share of projects that deliver climate co-benefits, increasing from 37 per cent in financial year, FY16 to 70 per cent in FY18.
Additionally, the World Bank financing for developing countries to adapt and build resilience to climate change also grew with $7.7 billion in adaptation investments in FY18 compared to $3.9 billion the previous year.
The bank noted that close to 49 per cent of all its climate finance is devoted to adaptation, demonstrating a commitment to focus as much on supporting countries to adapt to climate change as on mitigating future emissions.
“Through our Creating Markets strategy, we are looking to expand successful platforms such as Scaling Solar and the EDGE green building initiative, as well as developing new solutions that will accelerate business in climate priority sectors,” said Philippe Le Houérou, IFC’s CEO.