By Gift Briton
As part of the global efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, the World Bank is supporting developing countries to prioritize climate-informed economic developments through resource-based financing.
Through its Country Climate and Development Reports (CCDRs), the Bank is helping developing nations including in Africa, to prioritize the most impactful actions that can reduce greenhouse gas emissions and boost adaptation, while delivering on broader development goals.
The CCDRs (reports that integrate climate change and development considerations) provide facts and statistics for countries to follow for development and identify main pathways to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and climate vulnerabilities, including the costs and challenges as well as benefits and opportunities from doing so.
The reports suggest concrete, priority actions to support the low-carbon, resilient transition with an aim to inform governments, citizens, the private sector, and development partners and enable engagements with the development and climate agenda.
Already produced in over 10 countries in Africa, the CCDRs are acting as pathways towards local development and adaptation action while allowing countries to look regionally and work together on common actions and scale them up in climate adaptation.
Speaking during a side event at the ongoing COP27 meeting in Egypt, World Bank Group President, David Malpass noted that the world is facing a development crisis with developing nations facing extreme hunger and inflation shaped by higher food, fertilizer, and energy prices, at a time when they are also struggling in other areas of climate change adaptation and COVID -19 pandemic.
Furthermore, according to Malpass, Africa has a big call for action on adaptation financing. Therefore, it is critical for nations to adopt a holistic approach in their development agenda including integrating climate adaptation and developments since this will enable countries to reduce emissions from various industries including agriculture, energy, and steel among others, adding that adaptation is very important for the developing countries since they are the most impacted by climate change yet they contribute the least.
In order to attain this, countries are advised to bring on board all donors, private sectors, and the financial community to provide climate adaptation financing by providing resources that are able to use verifiable emissions reduction credits.
As one of the main climate change funders, World Bank has committed up to USD 32 billion in climate financing, half of which is directly going into adaptation. However, the world bank boss notes that they cannot do that all alone.
Therefore, he calls on more donors and the global community to step up investments in climate adaptation especially in developing nations, adding that most global efforts on reducing greenhouse gas emissions majorly focus on coal but to limit global warming below 1.5 degrees Celsius, it is also important to focus on reducing methane gas emissions accounting for over 25% of the global warming.
