Multilateral development banks announce to combat climate change

MANILA -- Multilateral development banks (MDBs), including the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) and the Asian Development Bank (ADB), announced on Monday a joint framework for reinforcing their commitment to combating climate change.

In a two-paged joint declaration, the MDBs committed to working together in six key areas considered central to meeting the goals of the agreement, which aims to limit the increase in global temperatures to well below 2 Celsius degree, pursuing efforts for 1.5 Celesius degree.

The declaration was issued at the start of the 24th Session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP24) in Katowice, Poland.

"The global development agenda is at a pivotal point," the joint declaration says. "There is international consensus on the urgent need to ensure that policy engagements and financial flows are consistent with a pathway towards low greenhouse gas emissions and climate-resilient development."

The MDBs and the International Development Finance Club (IDFC) had already pledged in December 2017 to align financial flows with the objectives of the Paris Agreement.

"To realize this vision, we are working together to develop a dedicated approach," the joint MDB declaration adds.

The Manila-based ADB said in a statement that this approach builds on the ongoing MDB contribution to climate finance, which, in 2017, amounted to 35 billion U.S. dollars to tackle climate change in developing and emerging economies, while mobilizing an additional 52 billion dollars from private and public sector sources.

Aside from AIIB and ADB, the other MDBs include the African Development Bank Group, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the European Investment Bank, the Inter-American Development Bank Group, the Islamic Development Bank, the New Development Bank and the World Bank Group.