COP28: Multilateral Development Banks boost joint action on climate and development

Dubai - Multilateral Development Banks (MDBs) have published a joint statement where they present concrete and urgent actions to scale up finance and enhance climate outcomes measurement, strengthen country-level collaboration, and increase co-financing and private sector engagement. The announcement comes as world leaders are gathering at the COP28 United Nations Climate Change Conference in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

“The window of opportunity to secure a liveable and sustainable future for all is rapidly closing. Recognising the interlinkages between the twin crises of climate and nature, achieving the Sustainable Development Goals, the goals of the Paris Agreement and the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework requires all of us to step up our efforts with urgency and scale,” the MDB statement said.

“With its unique social mandate, the CEB recognises that climate change can erode social development and inclusion gains. In collaboration with other MDBs and our member countries, we are addressing climate change as a cross-cutting issue and accelerating the implementation of our Paris Alignment Roadmap,” CEB Governor Carlo Monticelli said.

In the joint statement, MDBs reaffirm their commitment to socially inclusive, gender responsive and nature positive climate and development action, leveraging different mandates, unique country and client networks, operating models, geographies, and expertise. MDBs will achieve this through:

• An increased focus on measuring climate results, outcomes and impact
• Coordinated support for countries and sub-national entities to formulate and operationalise Long-term Strategies (LTS)
• Country level collaboration
• Attracting private capital at scale
• Supporting enhanced efforts on adaptation and disaster risk management

The climate and ecological crises are intertwined with many other global challenges. MDBs therefore also commit to strengthen collaboration in line with MDB respective mandates and governance frameworks on nature, water, health and gender.

The joint MDB statement announced today builds on their major progress and outcomes delivered to date. In 2022, MDBs provided record-levels of climate finance and private finance mobilization. MDBs jointly committed $61 billion of climate finance for low and middle-income economies, up 18% from 2021; and close to $100 billion in all economies where we operate. In low- and middle-income countries, adaptation finance accounted for 37% of this and total climate co-finance reached $46 billion, of which $15 billion was private finance mobilization.

In addition, MDBs continue to work on aligning their activities with the Paris Agreement goals using their joint framework published at COP24. In particular, in 2023, MDBs published the Joint MDB Methodological Principles for Assessment of Paris Agreement Alignment of New operations and are supporting just transition efforts in diverse contexts and regions.