U.S. Marines deliver emergency supplies to a flooded house in Orange, Texas following Hurricane Harvey in September 2018. Lance Cpl. Niles Lee/U.S. Marine Corps
The World Bank, one of the largest funding sources for developing countries, announced it will invest about $200 billion in climate adaptation and resiliency projects between 2021 and 2025. The new figure is double the bank’s previous five-year investment in climate action.
“Climate change is an existential threat to the world’s poorest and most vulnerable,” Jim Yong Kim, president of the World Bank Group, said in a statement. “These new targets demonstrate how seriously we are taking this issue. This is about putting countries and communities in charge of building a safer, more climate-resilient future.”
The $200 billion includes approximately $100 billion in direct finance from the World Bank and $100 billion in combined direct finance from the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency, and private capital mobilized by the World Bank Group, according to a press release. The announcement comes as countries gather in Poland this week to hash out an implementation plan for the Paris Agreement, which aims to keep global warming below 2 degrees Celsius.
Projects eligible for financing include developing higher-quality forecasts and early warning systems for natural disasters, as well as building more climate change-resilient homes, schools, infrastructure, and agricultural systems.
“People are losing their lives and livelihoods because of the disastrous effects of climate change,” said World Bank Chief Executive Officer, Kristalina Georgiev. “We must fight the causes, but also adapt to the consequences that are often most dramatic for the world’s poorest people.”
