The stocktake does not mince words: "The window to keep limiting warming to 1.5 °C within reach is closing rapidly, and progress is still inadequate based on the best available science." In fact, we can see and feel the impact of climate change in our own lives and on people and our planet in the multiplying examples of extreme heat, wildfires, droughts and flooding. The report’s technical findings clearly set out the urgent need for more to be done by all actors, as well as the dire consequences if we fail to act boldly now.
The World Bank Group has been doing its own stocktake to assess our contribution to tackling the many global challenges facing our clients and client countries, including climate change and sustainability. The World Bank Group can count many areas of progress and impact, starting with its role as the leading provider of climate-related development finance; the launch of groundbreaking individual Country Climate and Development Reports that recommend critical actions to tackle climate change and, since July 1st, 2023, alignment of new projects with the goals of the Paris Agreement.
Nonetheless, we recognize that, as time is of the essence, we must act with greater speed and scale to deliver impact that also includes a prominent role for the private sector. This is encapsulated in our efforts to evolve into a better institution and to meet the emergencies of poverty and the growing number of global challenges. To match this ambition, the World Bank Group is suggesting a new vision that would aim to create a world free of poverty on a livable planet. This new vision would be the first time the World Bank Group would have a formal mandate both to fight poverty and to address global challenges. We will do this, in part, by strengthening inclusion, resilience and sustainability.
The dialogue around a new vision and mission are driving change at MIGA. Inspired by the leadership of the World Bank Group’s new president, Ajay Banga, we are working to rapidly ramp up private capital for mitigation and adaption finance, where trillions of dollars of investment will be required annually to make progress on our climate goals. We are exploring the application of new guarantee products that will, for example, help mitigate non-commercial risks to encourage investment in the nascent carbon credits markets, and that will help provide private insurance against climate risks in MIGA-supported projects. To address climate resilience in developing countries, where the private sector is sorely needed, we are scaling up opportunities to increase access to adaptation finance through partnerships with national development banks, regional development banks, private commercial banks and public-private partnerships.
At MIGA our sustainability journey is ongoing, but it is changing to meet the stark challenges facing the global community. We hope this Sustainability Report, and the accompanying Report Under the Task Force on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures, provides you with more insight into our ongoing work and the direction, scale and urgency that we bring to our new vision and mission. As a guarantor rather than a direct provider of development finance, MIGA is especially aware that we cannot achieve our sustainability goals without collaboration and partnership. Please delve into our Sustainability Report, but also consider it an invitation to reach out to us if you share our ambition, vision and mission and wish to join our journey to achieve a world free of poverty on a livable planet for all.
We recognize that, as time is of the essence, we must act with greater speed and scale to deliver impact that also includes a prominent role for the private sector.
