Statement delivered by Ms. Mari Pangestu, Managing Director, The World Bank
V20 MINISTERIAL DIALOGUE IX
16 October 2022
Ms. Mari Pangestu, Managing Director, The World Bank
Thank you, Chair. I would like to just start by echoing all the sentiments shared in this room by all of you. That we heard you, including the voice of the youth, and we are moved and humbled by the impact of the climate crisis on your people, young and old in the countries that are represented around this room.
The reality is clear that you are bearing the brunt of the crisis whilst contributing the least. And I just wanted to also commend this group for coming together with one voice and coordinating yourselves so that you can really be clear on the situation that you are facing as well as the recommendations and actions that can be taken and working together with many of the partners in this room. And we stand ready to continue working with you.
Turning to the topic of this session on how we can increase the financing to achieve climate prosperity as you are calling it, is that we are really in a situation where we have to finance not just the impact of the climate crisis, but also the multiple crises. We heard all of you saying that. And we are already working with many of you at the country level and we are also working with our shareholders, as pointed out already, to optimize our balance sheet and evolve our role to address the global public goods demands that we know are large, the scale and the urgency could not be more emphasized.
But let me just share with you three things that we are working together with our partners to contribute to this agenda. You know, it’s always contribute more, contribute more in a more innovative way. Imagine, as Alexia was calling for. So, just let me mention three things.
First, on the global financial architecture, the World Bank teams are working with our IMF colleagues, our global standard set of partners, including the FSB, as well as the G20 through the sustainable finance working group roadmap and groupings such as the NGFS to design the climate financial architecture.
Which as the V20 shows, must address and enable action on adaptation and resilience as well as on mitigation. And we have this architecture that includes framework for managing climate risks such as stress testing, prudential requirements, and financial protection for sovereign firms and households.
It also requires tools for incentivizing low carbon investments such as taxonomies, product standards and disclosure, and reporting requirements.
We are focusing on ensuring that international standards are compatible with capital flows to emerging markets, including V20 members. And we are providing technical assistance in over 50 countries to help financial systems adapt to climate change and create incentives for green investment.
Second, enabling mobilizing, we need to mobilize all types of capital to finance green. And I just want to reemphasize what Kristalina was saying on the importance of policy. To really design the framework for your climate and development platform.
And for this I just want to mention that the World Bank has a new diagnostic tool, the Country and Climate Development Reports. I’m happy to say that nearly half of them, of the 20 that we are rolling out this year, are in the countries that are represented in this room. And this will enable the necessary action and identify the transformative investments that have most impact for your countries. And we hope that this can enable concessional flows, grants, trust funds, and financial facilities like the TCF, as well as the private capital.
And finally, we are focusing on supporting financial resilience, whose importance is higher than ever. Yet investments in adaptation, we all know this, are not enough financing for adaptation. It currently represents less than 10 percent of all climate finance. And a more systematic approach is needed on this across the board. And we are working very hard to address this.
So let me just close by thanking all of you for your continued voice on this. And we hear you and we will be working with all our partners and with all of you to really be able to move with speed and scale. Thank you very much.
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