COP28 is less than a month away, scheduled at Expo City Dubai from November 30 to December 12 this year. A day after the largest pre-COP to date, which witnessed over 70 ministers and 100 country delegates attending the Abu Dhabi conference, Dr. Sultan bin Ahmed Al Jaber, the President of COP28, addressed multilateral development banks (MDBs).

The COP28 President emphasized the need for multilateral development banks (MDBs) to intensify their climate finance efforts, stressing that “we need more ambition, we need trillions, not billions,” to combat the climate crisis effectively.

During a virtual meeting with nine MDB presidents and the Managing Director of the IMF, Dr. Al Jaber emphasized that addressing climate finance is a fundamental pillar of the COP28 Action Agenda.

He recognized the progress made by MDBs in reform, including their endorsement of a new vision for the World Bank that aims to create a world free of poverty while preserving the environment. He stressed the importance of shareholders providing adequate recapitalization to MDBs while calling for these banks to improve their efforts further.

Also, he emphasized the need for greater ambition, particularly with COP28 approaching in less than a month. He outlined three primary tasks for MDBs: working through country platforms, revising climate finance targets for the coming years, and reducing the risk for private sector involvement in climate finance initiatives.

The COP28 President urged MDBs to shift from funding individual projects to developing country platforms that align climate finance efforts with national development goals.

He also called MDBs to set more ambitious joint climate finance targets for the coming years, particularly for adaptation, and to step up their efforts to mobilize private finance. “MDBs must also step up private finance mobilization ─ with targets and methodologies to mobilize private finance, particularly for mitigation,” he added.

Lastly, he stressed the importance of organizing a forum next year to evaluate progress on the MDB reform agenda, underscoring the need to measure progress for effective advancement.