V20 Senior Officials’ Meeting Summary by Dr. Alhan Iddrisu
V20 MINISTERIAL DIALOGUE X
16 April 2023
Dr. Alhan Iddrisu, Director, Economic Strategy and Research Division, Ministry of Finance
Thank you, Chair.
It is my honour to present to you the report of the Senior Officials’ Meeting of the V20 Group that was held virtually on Thursday 30 March 2023. We convened the V20 Focus Group meetings and the Joint Technical Committee to discuss a draft of V20-specific initiatives. We started our work at 9:00 AM and adjourned at 1:10 PM GMT.
We undertook a detailed review of the work program of the V20 Group and the planned activities of the different working bodies of the V20. The meeting took note of the significant progress made across the V20 work streams, a report of which we respectfully submit for your consideration alongside other documents prepared by the V20 Secretariat.
Chair and excellencies, all documents were shared with respective delegations ahead of today’s ministerial dialogue and are also available in hard copy to delegations in our meeting today.
Please allow me to give you a brief account of the documents and key updates before you:
First, is the summary report of the Senior Officials’ Meeting including the reports of the three V20 Focus Groups—Advocacy and Partnerships, Climate Accounting and Risk—as well as the report on the deliberations of the Joint Technical Committee that considered updates of various V20 initiatives;
In the update on Public and Private Resource Mobilisation Efforts for Support to the CVF-V20 Joint Multi-Donor Fund, follow up activities include fundraising to support the work programme of the V20 and expansion of the regional presence of the V20;
On the CVF-V20 Work Program for the rest of 2023 until 2024, key elements include major engagements of the V20 Group including meeting to finalise the governance structure and way forward on the protection packages of the Global Shield, deepened engagement with equity providers including the Green Climate Fund and the enhanced cooperation with private sector for CPP investments as well as decisively engaging on a fit-for-climate international financial system. Senior Officials also took note of the upcoming key activities of the V20 including Climate Prosperity Plans and within that, the G7-V20 Global Shield against Climate Risks, as well as broader international reform.
The Senior Officials Meeting also reviewed the agenda and discussion items of the meeting of the high-level consultative group of the InsuResilience Global Partnership on Thursday, the 25th of May in the margins of the African Development Bank Annual Meeting in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt. As well as, the finalisation of the governance structure of the G7-V20 led Global Shield against Climate Risks;
On climate finance, having deliberated on the current and looping shortfalls, and having advocated for the USD 500 billion Delivery Plan alongside an Implementation Plan for how climate adaptation finance can reach an equal footing with mitigation finance, there we discussions on the need for COP27 to mandate a report by the Standing Committee of Finance to report on adaptation finance flows. This will enable all parties to ascertain progress on the COP26 decision for developed countries to ensure at least a doubling of adaptation finance by 2025.
On the carbon financing program of the V20, we discussed the need to create ways to fund Climate Prosperity Plan projects with carbon finance and so we will work together on a platform in exchange for returns and on investment and Internationally Transferred Mitigation Outcomes (ITMOs) which can be credited to relevant investments;
We likewise discussed implementation and the further development of the Global Shield against Climate Risks, including capitalisation efforts;
Chair, on the Joint Technical Committee, senior officials deliberated on the Climate Prosperity Plans current and planned activities. We also received an update on the CPP Fellowship Program to drive more south-south collaboration and coordination;
On the Accelerated Financing Mechanism (AFM), of note is the need for AFM design finalisation and to secure guarantee capital in trust funds of the multilateral development banks that can be utilised for the AFM;
Regarding the Task Force on Climate, Development and the IMF, we are glad to see that so far the IMF has begun reflecting our own thinking on the macro-criticality of climate. Our Task Force has put together a report on the role of the IMF in multilateral surveillance activities including strengthening bilateral surveillance and the scaling and reform of IMF’s lending toolkit. We look forward to work hand-in-hand with the IMF including through becoming an official constituency group;
The programme of work on the Sustainable Insurance Facility of the V20 included elements to support and rapidly scale-up last-mile capacity in demand aggregators such as supply chains, government agencies, and other institutions, and to prepare capital markets to accept climate risk for the last-mile infrastructure to ensure that demand is aggregated resulting in the efficient pricing of risk and to ensure that climate-vulnerable populations access effective risk transfer.
On the V20 Loss and Damage Funding Program, we are grateful for contributions from the Open Society Foundation and the Government of Wallonia. We are also working to unlock adaptation funds through the Global Environment Facility. Moreover, we continue to work on derivative analytics on protection gaps and displacement following the launch of the third edition of the Climate Vulnerability Monitor and the commission of work on the second edition of the Low Carbon Monitor.
Mr. Chair, through the years, the V20 Senior Officials have been meeting and deliberating on issues regarding the international financial architecture, and finally we have the draft of the Accra-Marrakech that launches today as a roadmap to be finalised at the next Ministerial meeting in October. We deliberated on a draft decision and elements for the Communique as proposed outcomes of today’s Ministerial Dialogue. The final text of the Communique has been prepared on the basis of elements discussed by the Senior Officials and further discussions through this week.
The Senior Officials will reconvene in October 2023 in the lead up to the 11th V20 Ministerial Dialogue. We will continue to finalise the Accra-Marrakech agenda with partners and collaborate actively throughout the year towards the advancement of the V20 agenda and work programme.
Mr. Chair, we acknowledge the governments of Bangladesh, Marshall Islands, Ethiopia and the Philippines as previous chairs that have contributed to the continued work program to-date and supported a number of landmark V20 initiatives. We also express our appreciation to the V20 Focus Group Co-Chairs for their leadership and to our partners and observers for their commitment and support.
I thank you for your attention and submit our meeting report and all related documents for your consideration.
Thank you Chair.
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[2] “Macro-criticality” on the premise that climate change can affect both domestic and external stability via transmission channels such as trade flows, fiscal positions, asset prices and exchange rates (IMF, 2015).