SUSTAINABILITY

Climate Change. On April 2, David Malpass, president of the World Bank (WB), presented the institution’s Climate Change Action Plan. Malpass highlighted the importance of the fight against climate change in reducing poverty and boosting shared prosperity, and underscored the role of the WB as the largest multilateral provider of climate finance for developing countries to date. He also explained that the Plan foresees a series of lines of action that include greater climate financing and the reduction of carbon use and emissions, among others. According to the plan, the WB will allocate financing to countries in the region to promote projects to reduce pollution over the next five years.

According to Malpass, the WB will contribute to reducing the impact of climate change by increasing financing for projects that reduce emissions of polluting gases in developing countries. To this end, a goal was established for the next five years to generate climate benefits with 35% of WBG financing. The World Bank also committed to use 50% of its climate finance to support both adaptation and resilience to climate change. Along these lines, it is also envisaged to align finance flows with the Paris Agreement targets by July 1, 2023.

The Malpass declaration also includes measures focused on reduction actions. Thus, it proposes to reduce emissions and climate vulnerabilities through investments in retrofitting areas such as energy, food systems and transport. Regarding the use of coal, the WB mentions its commitment to support those countries that request its assistance to reduce its use by mobilizing resources on a larger scale.

Next steps

The President of the WB announced the measures that the financial institution will take to counteract the effects of climate change. These include an increase in climate finance, collaboration and technical assistance for client countries in the transformation of the main emission-producing systems and a reduction in the use of carbon, among other actions framed in its Climate Change Action Plan. The objectives outlined in the Plan are expected to be achieved by the institution over the next five years.