COP28: On the fourth day of the 28th edition of the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP28), ten leading development banks, including the World Bank, have signed a joint statement to step up climate efforts, but have not mentioned anything about stopping financing for fossil fuel projects, news agency Reuters reported, citing a document. The banks said in the statement which will be announced at COP28 that the window of opportunity to secure a liveable planet was “rapidly closing”.
People have called for changes in the manner in which banks are run in response to the climate crisis because extreme weather events have increased.
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In 2022, the banks contributed $61 billion to climate finance, but it is just a fraction of what is required to combat the climate crisis.
On December 1, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told world leaders that ending fossil fuel use was the only way to save the planet. Despite the call from the UN Secretary-General to stop fossil fuel use, and rising global emissions, there was no mention of fossil fuel phaseout in the statement.
Fossil fuel burning is responsible for the majority of human-induced greenhouse gas emissions.
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The European Investment Bank had signed the ‘Glasgow Declaration’, which encourages the acceleration of climate action in tourism by committing to reduce emissions in tourism by at least 50 per cent over the next decade, and achieving net zero before 2050. The European Investment Bank is the only of the ten banks to commit to stop lending to fossil fuel projects.
The banks said they intend to follow a common approach to track and report climate impact, and that they would scale up the use of analytics so that countries can identify priorities and investment opportunities, according to a Reuters report.
The World Bank is hosting a joint Long-term Strategies Program which would help countries and sub-national entities develop plans around issues such as decarbonisation and climate resilience.
The ten development banks have also pledged to help countries set up platforms so that they receive support on policy reform, finance, and technical assistance.
The banks intend to develop green projects, and remove “distorting” subsidies as this would attract more private capital.
They aim to “strengthen country-level collaboration”.