CEB defines roadmap for the next steps of alignment with Paris Agreement

Paris – In the wake of COP26, the Administrative Council of the Council of Europe Development Bank (CEB) supported today the CEB’s Paris Alignment framework, accompanied by a phased roadmap to progressively operationalise the Bank’s Development Plan 2020-2022 commitment to align its lending activities with the Paris Agreement. 

The CEB thus joins other Multilateral Development Banks in heading the call of Art 2.1 (c) for the alignment of financial flows with the goals of the 2015 landmark agreement on climate change. 

The recently concluded COP26 confirmed that the climate crisis is also a social crisis. The impacts of accelerating climate change worsen inequalities, while social justice and inclusion are key for the transition to a net-zero and climate-resilient future.

As the only MDB with a social mandate, the CEB approaches climate-related issues through a social lens that recognises the nexus between social inclusion and climate action. The CEB’s conceptual framework acknowledges the impact of social dimensions, policies and investment on climate outcomes as well as the impact of climate change, policy and action on social inclusion.   

“Addressing climate change can provide opportunities to achieve positive social transformation and focus on the needs of the most vulnerable. With its social mandate and capacity to rapidly respond to emergencies the CEB is particularly well-placed to tackle the social dimensions of climate action,” said Governor Rolf Wenzel.

Building on the Multilateral Development Banks’ joint approach, the CEB’s Paris Alignment framework breaks down its commitment in four main work streams that are mapped to the six building blocks of the common MDB framework. The accompanying roadmap spells out a phased set of actions to progressively achieve alignment, starting with the objective to align direct lending to investment projects by the end of 2022. 

In recent years, the CEB has increasingly integrated climate change considerations into its activities. The Bank already screens all projects for climate-related risks, identifies climate mitigation and adaptation components in its operations and reports absolute and relative greenhouse gas emissions of its operations. 

The adoption of the Paris Alignment framework and phased implementation of the roadmap will further enhance the CEB’s contribution to connecting the climate agenda with social inclusion.