World Bank to invest $200b in ‘climate action' over five years

The investment will support infrastructure for 36GW of renewables.

The World Bank will invest $200b over a span of five years to support “ambitious climate action” especially in the world’s poorest countries.

According to an announcement, the $200b is made up of approximately $100b in direct finance from the World Bank (IBRD/IDA), and approximately $100b of combined direct finance from the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA) and private capital mobilised by the World Bank Group.

“A key priority is boosting support for climate adaptation, recognizing that millions of people across the world are already facing the severe consequences of more extreme weather events,” World Bank said. It will emphasise investments that reduce emissions.

The bank will support the generation, integration, and enabling infrastructure for 36GW of renewable energy and 1.5 million GWh equivalent of energy savings through efficiency improvement.

The new financing will help the World Bank develop a new rating system to track and incentivise global progress. Actions will include supporting higher-quality forecasts, early warning systems and climate information services to better prepare 250 million people in 30 developing countries for climate risks.

The expected investments will build more climate-responsive social protection systems in 40 countries, and finance climate-smart agriculture investments in 20 countries.

World Bank will also support at least 20 countries implement and update Nationally Determined Contributions and increase engagement with Ministries of Finance in the design and implementation of transformative low-carbon policies.