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GHANA HOSTS V20 SENIOR OFFICIALS’ MEETING

GHANA HOSTS V20 SENIOR OFFICIALS’ MEETING

Accra, 7 April 2023 – Ghana’s Ministry of Finance, in its role as chair of the Vulnerable Twenty (V20) Ministers of Finance, hosted the V20 virtual Senior Officials’ Meeting on March 30, 2023. The meeting focused on key V20 initiatives and the roadmap leading to the Accra-Marrakech Agenda, which will be launched on April 16 during the V20 Ministerial Dialogue X at the International Monetary Fund (IMF) headquarters in Washington, D.C, during the IMF and World Bank (WB) Spring meetings. 

The V20 will flesh out four fundamental priority areas to ensure a world economy that is fit for climate and supportive of its most vulnerable countries throughout the year. The Accra-Marrakech Agenda will culminate at the IMF and WB Annual Meetings, to be held this October in Marrakech, Morocco, with the aim of cementing an international coalition backing climate-driven reforms of the global financial system. 

Ghana Finance Minister and V20 Chair Ken Ofori-Atta, highlighted: “V20 economies cannot continue to sustain losses of this magnitude – about USD 500 billion in economic losses  over two decades due to human-induced global warming, and projections of USD 200 billion of losses through to 2027 should we manage to keep to 1.5C. Very critical to the reversal of these misfortunes and the acceleration of climate-resilient growth, is the transformation of the global financial architecture into one that is fit-for-climate, transparent, and equitable. We need a system that aligns financial incentives with the goals of the Paris Agreement and supports the transition to a low-carbon and climate-resilient economy. The Accra-Marrakech agenda proposes a collaborative way forward. We are pleased with the work of the senior officials of the 58 member states  and are confident that fellow V20 ministers will appreciate this work at the next Ministerial X on 16 April 2023.”

A draft roadmap for consultation on the Accra-Marrakech Agenda will be circulated and agreed in Marrakech in October 2023, where G7, G20 and partners are expected to contribute.  The four areas proposed by the V20 are: 

  • Make debt work for the climate: It is urgent to make debt work for the most vulnerable and to ensure that V20 countries  overcome the cost of capital challenges.
  • Transform the international and development financial system: There is sufficient financial resources and money supply (liquidity through the decade and savings) in the world economy to transform economies but a decisive shift of financial flows is required to unlock the potential of the system. For as long as public international and development finance continue to support brown (carbon-intensive/climate-heating) and risky (non-climate future adapted) investments instead of green and resilient ones, the transformational potential of the transition is undermined.
  • Reach a new global deal on carbon financing: A new global deal on carbon finance to realize the goal of the Paris Agreement in the near term, prior to 1.5ÂşC overshoot lock-in. This demands substantial strengthening of 2030 climate targets of major polluting economies that can be enabled through the promotion of ambitious development-positive climate action in low-emitting developing economies. Win-win carbon-finance exchanges can help meet global goals, deliver fair-share action, and provide crucial financial support for ambitious climate action that would otherwise not be viable.
  • Revolutionize risk management for our climate-insecure world economy: Double down on efforts to accept and address the new climate-insecure reality of the world economy and put in place anticipatory finance (pre-arranged and trigger-based funds) for loss and damage and mainstream surveillance and monitoring of climate risks of all kinds (physical, transition, spillover) in IFI finance and credit rating practices, including through the landmark G7-V20 Global Shield against Climate Risks.

Link to Accra-Marrakech draft for consultation: https://www.v-20.org/accra-marrakech-agenda 

Ghana is the current Chair of the Climate Vulnerable Forum (CVF) and the Vulnerable Twenty Group of Finance Ministers. The V20 Group of Finance Ministers is a dedicated cooperation initiative of economies systematically vulnerable to climate change. The V20 membership stands at 68 countries representing some 1.5 billion people from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Barbados, Benin, Bhutan, Burkina Faso, Cambodia, Chad, Colombia, Comoros, Costa Rica, Côte d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Dominican Republic, Eswatini, Ethiopia, Fiji, The Gambia, Ghana, Grenada, Guatemala, Guinea, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Kenya, Kiribati, Kyrgyzstan, Lebanon, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Maldives, Marshall Islands, Mongolia, Morocco, Nepal, Nicaragua, Niger, Palau, Palestine**, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Rwanda, Saint Lucia, Samoa, Senegal, South Sudan, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Tanzania, Timor-Leste, Tunisia, Tuvalu, Uganda, Vanuatu, Viet Nam, and Yemen.

**As a UN non-member observer state

For further information, please contact:

Nabiha Shahab

media@v-20.org

+62 813 1421 3432

www.v-20.org

@V20Group