Engineer using tablet computer collect data with meteorological instrument. M2020/Shutterstock.com
As world leaders gathered at COP27 in Egypt in November, one question hung in the air: how can the world move from climate pledges to implementation? Although the issue is complex, tools for practitioners are often a critical missing link between aspirations and actions.
At the World Bank Group, we have been busy working to fill this void by creating new tools and upgrading existing ones that meet the climate infrastructure needs of the world’s poorest. Specifically, we have several tools designed to improve the way climate considerations are accounted for in infrastructure projects and financing. These tools can’t come soon enough , as emerging markets and developing economies (EMDEs) require at least $1.7 trillion per year in investments by 2030 to meet Paris Agreement goals on climate change mitigation and adaptation. It’s increasingly clear this cannot be done without private sector participation to help meet this enormous cost.
All of our actions have been within the context of the World Bank’s broader diagnostic frameworks, including the Country Climate and Development Reports (CCDRs), the Bank’s foremost instrument that will help countries prioritize what needs to be done. The CCDRs have already been published for almost 15 countries—including China, the G5 Sahel, Nepal, Rwanda, Türkiye, and Vietnam. We are also working on a revision of the World Bank’s Framework for Disclosure in Public-Private Partnership Projects. This revision will transform the way EMDE’s integrate climate-related disclosures with the social, financial, and physical impact of infrastructure projects. Indonesia is already planning to use the revamped tool in its work to make procurement for PPPs more transparent and accountable. We expect additional countries to use this tool in similar ways.
The World Bank Group is also looking forward to wide deployment of our novel suite of Climate Toolkits for Infrastructure PPPs (CTIP3). The suite will include six toolkits that PPP practitioners can use to mainstream climate considerations into infrastructure PPP planning. The CTIP3 identifies climate risks, such as the potential for the physical structure of infrastructure PPPs to be damaged from climate hazards. It also identifies opportunities, such as ways to leverage biodiversity in infrastructure designs that generate carbon credits and incentivize private sector participation at various points of the typical lifespan of a PPP.
Results have been promising so far as the CTIP3 has been deployed in several countries including Angola, Cabo Verde, Egypt, Ghana, Guinea, India, Mozambique, Nepal, and Nigeria. Feedback from our clients shows that it’s been useful in aligning climate and private sector interests, as well as in enabling access to climate finance for climate-smart infrastructure development as it provides guidance on how to include climate features in the infrastructure designs, contract structuring, risk apportioning, and key performance indicators that can be attractive to climate financiers.
Similarly, the implementation of the Infrastructure Sector Assessment Program (InfraSAP) has been strengthened by identifying ways in which the tool can complement the efforts of the CCDRs. This tool has been used to support countries like Costa Rica in decarbonizing the transport and energy sectors by providing recommendations for resilient and sustainable infrastructure development that deliver on Paris Agreement commitments in particular through the promotion of e-mobility to meet Costa Rica’s target of a full transition to zero-emission buses by 2050.
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