Washington DC, 26 March
2012 - Today, financial entities face the
challenge of accessing funds that would
finance the urgent need to mitigate and
adapt to climate change. This was the declaration
made by the governments involved in the
2011 UN Climate Change Conference in Durban,
when they established the Green Climate
Fund (GCF), an agreement among industrialized
countries to mobilize some US$100 billion
a year by 2020.
In an attempt to investigate
new ways of accessing these resources, a
discussion on "The Role of National
Development Banks in the Mobilization of
International Climate Finance" will
take place in Washington, DC, on 18-19 April
2012.
The event is organized
by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB),the
Latin American Association of Development
Financing Institutions (ALIDE), the French
Development Agency (AFD), the Association
of Development Financing Institutions in
Asia and the Pacific (ADFIAP), the World
Federation of Development Financing Institutions
(WFDFI), the German Federal Ministry for
Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ),
the Development Bank of Southern Africa
(DBSA), KfW Bankengruppe, the United Nations
Environment Programme (UNEP), the United
Nations Program for Development (UNDP),
and the World Resources Institute(WRI).
National development
banks and local financial institutions are
considered essential players not only in
the mobilization of international financing
for climate issues, but additionally for
leveraging other national and international
resources for the funding of the public
and private investments necessary to tackle
climate change and promote environmental
and social benefits. This forum presents
an opportunity to raise consciousness among
national development banks, local financial
institutions and other important figures,
both public and private, regarding the opportunities
and challenges faced when mobilizing international
climate finance.
Furthermore, the event
provides a platform for the following discussion
points:
• Challenges and opportunities
faced in the implementation of the Green
Climate Fund from the perspective of national
development banks and local financial institutions.
• The role of treasuries
and national development banks in informing
and influencing the design of new international
mechanisms for climate financing so as to
facilitate their implementation in local
credit markets, and how these resources
can leverage further contributions from
the public and private sectors at the national
and international level, in order to finance
investment projects that mitigate and adapt
to climate change.
• Experiences with existing
international climate funds and market mechanisms,
lessons learned, and how can they be incorporated
into the development of new financing mechanisms.
• Recommended mechanisms
for climate financing relevant to international
forums such as the Río+20 conference
(June 2012) and the Climate Change Conference
(December 2012).
The event with
be attended by representatives from ministries
of finance, national development banks and
financial institutions from Latin America,
the Caribbean, Africa and Asia, as well
as international financial institutions
for development (multilateral, regional
and bilateral), and international experts
on topics related to financing climate change.
