UN, World Bank launch initiative to accelerate finance for climate action

United Nations Secretary General António Guterres and World Bank Group President Jim Yong Kim on Wednesday September 20, 2017 announced plans to accelerate the flow of finance for climate action through a new platform dedicated to identifying and facilitating transformational investments in developing countries.
Following meetings this week with world and business leaders, state and city representatives, and civil society, the two leaders pointed to the urgency for climate action and the need for a massive ramp-up of investment.
“Countries are successfully reducing emissions and building resilience to climate change, but getting to the level of action needed to reach the global goals set in Paris two years ago will require a huge leap in the flow of financing and investment for implementing the National Determined Contributions,” said Secretary General Guterres. “The disasters we are currently seeing – including storms, floods and drought – are also demonstrating just how urgent the need is especially for the Small Islands Nations.”
President Kim speaking during the Bloomberg Global Business Forum said: “There are vast opportunities in developing countries in areas like clean energy and climate-smart agriculture that will lay the groundwork for a more prosperous and sustainable future. Our challenge is to create the conditions for investment to flow, and to get all forms of finance working together for maximum impact.”
The new Invest4Climate platform is designed to bring together national governments, financial institutions, private sector investors, philanthropies, and multilateral banks to support transformational climate action in line with the Paris Agreement. The platform will bring together investors with high-impact opportunities in developing countries such as large-scale development of battery storage, electric cars, and low emission air conditioning. It will also facilitate such investments through the development of risk mitigation instruments and, based on demand, will work with national governments to improve policy environments.
“Cities are leading the way in confronting climate change, and they would be doing even more, even faster, if they had greater access to funding,” said Michael R. Bloomberg, UN Special Envoy for Cities and Climate Change. “This is a big challenge that we can start to address with practical steps, like helping cities improve their credit rating, measure their funding needs, and connect specific projects with lenders. The World Bank and UN are taking an important step forward by bringing people together who are in a position to help achieve those goals.”
Invest4Climate will be supported by national finance ministers, climate thought leaders, chief executives of firms, foundations and financial institutions, as well as senior representatives from the UN and the World Bank Group. It will not have its own funding sources but will complement existing climate and development finance initiatives and institutions.
The platform will be further developed in close collaboration with partners at the forthcoming World Bank/IMF Annual Meetings and COP23. The first Invest4Climate initiatives are expected to be announced at the Climate Summit in Paris in December 2017.