Development-bank climate funds seek new dollars, as competition heats up

(Eco Business, 9 Apr 2019) Ministers from poor and emerging economies call on donors to top up the Climate Investment Funds.

Ministers from more than 30 developing countries on Monday urged wealthy nations to top up a set of climate funds that channel money to international development banks, in a year when competition for limited donor dollars is set to heat up.

The $8.3-billion Climate Investment Funds (CIF), currently the world’s largest multilateral climate financing instrument, help developing states pursue low-carbon development that protects them better from wilder weather and rising seas.

But after a decade of operation, the funds have less than $1 billion to commit - and are likely to run out of money this year, having received no new contributions since 2014, CIF head Mafalda Duarte told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

In a ministerial statement, 33 governments - including Bangladesh, Colombia, Egypt, Kenya, Liberia and Ukraine, among others - noted the achievements of 300 CIF-backed projects in 72 countries.

The projects are building 26.5 gigawatts of clean-energy capacity, improving energy access for 8.5 million people, equipping 45 million to cope with the effects of climate change, and managing 36 million hectares of forests more sustainably, the statement said.

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Eco Business, 9 Apr 2019: Development-bank climate funds seek new dollars, as competition heats up