World Bank announces $200 billion to fund the fight against climate change

The World Bank has announced its investment of $200 billion to fund the fight against climate change.

The funding is for a new set of climate targets for 2021-25. The new plan significantly boots support for adaption and resilience, recognising mounting climate change impacts on lives and livelihoods, especially in the world’s poorest countries.

The World Bank will support the generation, integration and enabling infrastructure for 36 gigawatts of renewable energy and support 1.5 million gigawatts per hour equivalent of energy savings through efficiency improvement.

To support cities, the funding will help 100 cities achieve low-carbon and resilient urban planning and transit-oriented development.

Jim Yong Kim, World Bank Group President, said: “Climate change is an existential threat to the world’s poorest and most vulnerable. These new targets demonstrate how seriously we are taking this issue, investing and mobilizing $200 billion over five years to combat climate change.”

The $200 billion across the Group is made up of approximately $100 billion in direct finance from the World Bank, and approximately $100 billion of combined direct finance from the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA) and private capital mobilized by the World Bank Group.

Philippe Le Houérou, IFC CEO, said: “There are literally trillions of dollars of opportunities for the private sector to invest in projects that will help save the planet. Our job is to go out and proactively find those opportunities, use our de-risking tools, and crowd in private sector investment. We will do much more in helping finance renewable energy, green buildings, climate-smart agribusiness, urban transportation, water, and urban waste management.”

The World Bank has previously invested $1 billion into battery storage for renewable energy, an initiative also aimed at developing countries.