. A couple days ago, African leaders echoed and amplified this dynamic, by adopting the “Nairobi Declaration” during the first Africa Climate Summit in Kenya. The G20 summit, which is in New Delhi on September 9-10, is the next major milestone to push this agenda forward, ahead of the 2023 Sustainable Development Goals summit on September 18-19, the Summit of the Future in September 2024, and the fourth Financing for Development Conference in 2025.
Facing different needs, countries may need to pursue diverse transition paths while coming together to meet the goals of the 2015 Paris climate agreement. To back the concrete measures that were agreed or advanced in Paris this past June and in Nairobi this month, the world will need a strong financial stimulus. Fortunately, we have already achieved the target of $100 billion worth of special drawing rights or equivalent contributions to be channeled to the world’s most vulnerable countries, especially in Africa. We now call for additional pledges.
We also expect an overall increase of $200 billion in MDBs’ lending capacity over the next ten years by optimizing their balance sheets and enabling them to take more risks. If the reforms to the MDBs now being discussed are implemented, these institutions may need more capital. We reaffirm the importance of carrying out major infrastructure projects in Africa, and we want to continue our collaboration in this area.
This is no doubt an ambitious agenda. All financial institutions and actors will need to work together to fulfill it. Part of this cooperative effort must involve coordinating the MDBs and public development banks in the “Finance in Common” global network of development banks. Cooperation on the energy transition can be achieved through the Climate Club, which the G7 established in order to fulfill the Paris climate agreement.
An ambitious financial replenishment of the International Development Association, a deepening of the IMF’s Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility, and increased funding for the World Bank and IMF’s other concessional facilities can also play a big part in helping the world’s poorest countries. Here, it is clear that including climate vulnerability in the World Bank/IMF’s mission will enable more investment in projects that assist poor countries in combating climate change.