CLIMATE finance committed by major multilateral development banks (MDBs) rose to a total of $66 billion last year from $61.6 billion in 2019, according to the 2020 Joint Report on Multilateral Development Banks’ Climate Finance published recently. Of this, 58 per cent – or $38 billion – was committed to low- and middle-income economies.
The total climate co-finance committed during 2020 alongside MDB resources was $85 billion. Together, MDB climate finance and climate co-finance totalled more than $151 billion. The amount of private direct mobilisation stood at $5.9 billion.
Accelerating the transition to low-carbon and climate-resilient economies through climate finance is a key element of the MDBs’ effort to align their activities with the objectives of the 2015 Paris Agreement to keep global warming well below 2°C, with efforts to limit it to 1.5°C, along climate-resilient development pathways. In the past six years, the MDBs have jointly committed a total of $257 billion in climate finance, of which $186 billion was directed at low- and middle-income economies.
