As delegates gather for the first day of the COP26 Climate Conference in Glasgow, multilateral development banks (MDBs) including the European Investment Bank are calling for “a significant expansion and acceleration of climate action across countries and economic sectors” in a joint statement issued today.
Speaking from Glasgow, EIB President Werner Hoyer said: “The COP26 conference in Glasgow is our chance to raise our ambition, and not to be blown off course even in these challenging times. To keep the 1.5 degree target alive, the United Nations says we must reduce emissions by 50% by 2030. We as MDBs can help to ensure we meet these climate goals not just through investment but also through our collective expertise. At the same time we must support a massive increase in support for innovation, especially in the field of energy. As the EU climate bank we aim, under our Climate Bank Roadmap, to support more than $1 trillion of green investment by the end of this decade. It is essential too that this is a genuinely global effort working in partnership to ensure that the projects we support and the technologies we foster are genuinely contribute to climate resilience and decarbonisation around the world.”
The joint statement was signed by the African Development Bank, the Asian Development Bank, the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, the Council of Europe Development Bank, the EBRD, the European Investment Bank, the Inter-American Development Bank Group, the Islamic Development Bank, the New Development Bank and the World Bank Group.