By Amelia Cuesta
El Inmobiliario
In a World Bank press release published on September 7 of this year in Washington, the World Bank Group (WBG) provided an unprecedented sum of USD 31.7 billion to help countries identify and enable high-priority projects related to climate change, an amount that represents a 19% increase over the historical high of USD 26 billion, achieved in the previous fiscal year.
“The World Bank Group remains the leading source of multilateral financing for climate action in developing countries,” the World Bank stated.
The World Bank noted that “funds allocated to climate action in fiscal year 2022, which ran from July 1, 2021 to June 30, 2022, accounted for 36% of total WBG financing.
It is worth noting that the Climate Change Action Plan 2021-25 established that 35% of the institution's funding would be allocated to supporting climate action.
In fiscal year 2022, the International Development Association (IDA) and the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) provided USD 26.2 billion for climate finance, of which USD 12.9 billion was used specifically to support investments in adaptation and resilience.
On the other hand, the World Bank Group's private sector arm, the International Finance Corporation (IFC), contributed US$4.4 billion and raised an additional US$3.3 billion from other sources. Furthermore, the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA)—the WBG's political risk insurance and credit enhancement instrument—provided US$10 billion for climate finance.
As part of its project, and with the aim of helping countries prioritize the most impactful measures to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and boost adaptation, the World Bank Group launched a series of climate and development reports for countries (CCDR).
The preliminary findings of these reports will be published in the coming months in order to promote action-oriented debate in the international community.
