
I have read the many reports that summarize the dire state of the climate and our planet’s worsening prospects. I know the hard statistics documenting rising temperatures, the increasing intensity of natural disasters and warmer seas. I have been meeting with representatives from developing countries who have one request:
In developing countries, governments with few resources are trying to figure out how to raise living standards and lift people out of poverty, while at the same time reducing emissions and adapting their economic model to harsher and more variable weather patterns.
In May last year, torrential rains uprooted hundreds of thousands of people across East Africa with 260,000 displaced in Kenya, half a million in Somalia. The floods came just as many people were recovering from drought and famine that had swept the Horn and East Africa region the previous season, slowing crop production, driving food prices higher, increasing inflation, and reducing economic growth.
The complexity of the challenge is even more acute in fragile states where governments often have limited means to help their populations adapt. But here the incentives for action are just as strong because neglecting climate-related issues can exacerbate political, economic and social stresses.
: introducing policies to reduce emissions and boost adaptation; stimulating private investments in climate action, because public finance alone will not be enough; addressing the needs of marginalized and vulnerable populations; and helping the people and households who are feeling the immediate impacts of climate change.
First, with the right adjustments to policy frameworks, countries can encourage more investments to tackle climate change and support low-carbon growth. In this context, the UK has shown what can be done, reducing greenhouse gas emissions by around 40% while simultaneously achieving a 75% increase in real gross domestic product between 1990 and 2018.
More countries are now embracing this challenge and filling the fiscal policy void in the climate discussion. Formed in April this year, the 50-member strong Coalition of Finance Ministers for Climate Action, led by Finland and Chile, has championed action through fiscal policy, private finance and smart public spending. This agenda is captured in the ‘Helsinki Principles,’ and the coalition will support ministers with technical assistance and sharing policies ideas that work.
Second,
For example, the World Bank Group’s private sector arm is working to boost investments in renewables in developing countries to increase electricity access and tap into falling prices for wind and solar. Most recently, we helped the Senegalese government use the ‘scaling solar’ approach to set a new benchmark of roughly 5 US cents per kilowatt hour of power, one of the cheapest sources of electricity in the whole of sub-Saharan Africa. With battery storage costs falling by two thirds, the energy revolution provides new options for on and off grid solutions in poor countries.Third, while the focus of climate discussions is often on large countries and big sources of emissions, this ought not ignore the plight of smaller countries or vulnerable people that are already dealing with the effects of climate change.
We know, for example, that for small islands in the Caribbean and the Pacific the intensity of storms has increased, and the damage done to these countries can range from 25 to over 200 percent of GDP. More resilient infrastructure, housing and public services are essential, and being ready to ‘build back better’ if disaster strikes. It is for this reason that
Finally, effective policies focus on people who are already feeling the effects of a warmer planet. Generally, our teams are shifting increasingly to help countries and communities adapt, and this effort now represents 50 percent of our climate-related investments.
For the very poor, seemingly small measures can make a big difference. At a household level, for example, the World Bank is helping people switch to clean cookstoves. Nearly three billion people currently cook with firewood or charcoal each day, causing grave impacts on health and the environment. Replacing traditional wood and coal-burning cookstoves with cleaner technology could trim nearly a tenth of a degree from global temperature and save more than 10 million lives by 2050.
IDA, the Bank’s fund for the poorest countries, made climate as a priority as early as 2008. Across the full resources of the Bank Group, our ambition is being translated into increasing climate-related investments of around $335 billion in total by 2030. This is a sharp contrast over the previous decade of climate-related investments which totaled around $120 billion from 2010-2019.
The World Bank Group is taking a serious and comprehensive approach and using all the tools at its disposal to integrate climate change considerations into its operations.
A version of this article was originally published by Les Echos.
There is a new phenomena which we are following closely in Central African Region.
The flood that happen those days in some countries of that region let us thinking for the next future of the population following climate change. We believe the level of education of the population must to improve to bring them aware of the multiple change that our planet is going through. The world bank need to look closely that level of
knowledge population have to combat again natural disaster of that dimension.
This is very good article, in south asia Nepal felt a bit suffering by climate change. Snow line in northern part of Himalayas change in higher line ,melting of white ice change into black mountain, flies and mosquitoes seen in the mountain ,seasons slightly sifting ,slightly structure change in biodiversity. Mitigation measures may - adaptation of polices of solar energy technology and generation hydroelectricity , forest fire control , cement and brick industries polices strict
implementations.,displaced fuel vehicle by electricity, band emission of CFC activities.