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Climate finance committed by major multilateral development banks rose by more than 24 per cent in 2021 compared to the previous year, according to the latest Joint Report on Multilateral Development Banks' Climate Finance, published on Friday.
Climate finance typically refers to any financing that seeks to support mitigation and adaptation actions that will address climate change. The 2021 total financing by MDBs already surpassed the 2025 climate finance goals set at the 2019 United Nations Secretary General's Climate Action Summit in New York, the Asian Development Bank said in a statement. The goals amount to an expected collective total of USD 50 billion for low- and middle-income economies, and at least USD 65 billion of climate finance globally. Multilateral development banks provided around USD 51 billion (62 per cent of overall MDB climate finance) in climate finance to low- and middle-income economies. Of this total, more than USD 33 billion (65 per cent) was for climate change mitigation and more than USD 17 billion (35 per cent) for climate change adaptation, the statement said. In addition, MDBs provided more than USD 31 billion (38 per cent of overall MDB climate finance) in climate finance to high-income economies, with USD 29 billion (95 per cent) for climate change mitigation and USD 1.6 billion (5 per cent) for climate change adaptation. "These increasing levels of climate commitments from ADB and our partner institutions underscores the importance of climate change as the global issue of our lifetime,'' said ADB Climate Envoy Warren Evans. "In Asia and the Pacific, we are uniquely vulnerable. Whether it's historic levels of flooding in Pakistan, devastating drought in the People's Republic of China, or cyclones in the Pacific, our region knows full well the ever-present impact of climate change. It's vital we continue to scale up this financing--for both mitigation and adaptation--to protect the lives and livelihoods of people in our region." The Joint Report on Multilateral Development Banks' Climate Finance is an annual collaboration to make the banks' climate finance figures public, together with a clear explanation of the methodologies for tracking this finance. The joint report, alongside the publication of climate finance statistics for each bank, is intended to track progress in relation to their climate finance targets, such as those announced around COP21, and the greater ambition pledged for the post-2020 period. Lastly, the statement said ADB is committed to achieving a prosperous, inclusive, resilient, and sustainable Asia and the Pacific, while sustaining its efforts to eradicate extreme poverty. (ANI)
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