Blog Posts: climate finance

A new report finds that implementing a bundle of currently available technologies and practices across six emerging countries could collectively cut annual emissions from key urban sectors by 87–96% by 2050 beyond countries’ initial commitments under the Paris Agreement. But achieving these benefits will require the full support of national governments.

The Green Climate Fund (GCF) is a central pillar of international climate finance, and the funding mechanism known as “direct access” is an exciting part of the GCF’s innovative approach to financing and commitment to equitable finance. A new paper from WRI explores the GCF’s progress on direct access and proposes ways to fully realize the potential of this approach.

The Netherlands hosted the Climate Adaptation Summit 2021, marking the first time world leaders gathered at a global event focused solely on adaptation and resilience. What did the Summit deliver, and where do we go from here?

To bolster U.S. influence and impact as it reengages in global climate action, the Biden Administration must prioritize climate finance in four key areas.

National governments and international organizations must use this year to make three critical shifts to address climate impacts, as well as health and economic risks facing vulnerable communities.

The economic impacts of both the climate and coronavirus crises will likely be felt most acutely by one group in particular: the more than 2 billion people who rely on the informal sector for their livelihoods.

The Climate Ambition Summit brought together more than 70 heads of state as well as many other leaders from business, the finance community and civil society. While the summit spurred momentum for some countries it also exposed gaps in climate leadership, leaving much to accomplish ahead of COP26.

Despite the COVID-19 pandemic postponing COP26 until November 2021, UN negotiators were still hard at work this year. After a series of virtual events in June, more than 3,000 country delegates recently concluded the Climate Dialogues, a set of 80 virtual gatherings where countries unpacked, reviewed and discussed outstanding issues within ongoing international climate negotiations.

From the outset, countries agreed that the dialogues would not...

The developing world is facing a major debt crisis, limiting their ability to spend on economic recovery for COVID-19 or climate action. Creditor countries — specifically China, the largest bilateral creditor to developing countries — can exchange this for clear, verifiable climate action and investments in healthcare.

Climate change doesn't feature prominently in the World Bank's COVID-19 response yet. As countries turn to long-term recovery, the Bank should prioritize environment- and climate-friendly policy lending programs.