World Bank Launches $50 Billion Climate Change Adaptation Plan

B. Shancho Ndimuh

The World Bank Group (WBG), has launched a five year Action Plan on Climate Change Adaption and Resilience aimed at elevating adaptation to an equal footing with climate mitigation actions by 2025. Launched, January 15, 2018, the Action Plan to the tone of $50 billion, will be implemented from June 30, 2021 to July 1, 2025.

The Action Plan, which will increase World Bank’s ambition and commitments on climate change adaptation and resilience, seeks to boost adaptation financing; drive mainstreamed, whole-of-government pragmatic approach; and develop a new rating system to create incentives for, and improve the tracking of global progress on adaptation and resilience.

As far as boost adaptation financing is concerned, the WBG will increase its direct adaptation climate finance to reach a financing level of an average of $10 billion a year. According to the Action Plan, WBG will also pilot new approaches to scale up private finance for adaptation and resilience.

In driving mainstreamed, whole-of-government pragmatic approach, WBG according to the Action Plan, intends to help countries shift from addressing adaptation as an incremental cost and isolated investment to systematically managing and incorporating climate risks and opportunities at every phase of policy planning, investment design, implementation and evaluation.

In order to effectively develop a new rating system to create incentives for, and improve the tracking of global progress on adaptation and resilience, WBG promises to put in place a new rating system to promote public and private sector investments in adaptation. According to the Plan, the system will be designed to create incentives for donors and countries to engage in more and better adaptation; more effectively report on what the WBG and clients are doing; and aim to establish a global standard for financial markets and public procurement. This  will be piloted over FY19-20 with an anticipated roll-out to projects in relevant sectors by FY21.

.The WBG boosting adaptation programme will therefore support, amongst others, projects on disaster risk management, water security, coastal resilience, human development : forests and integrated landscape management.

To successfully realise this Action Plan, World Bank Chief Executive Officer, Kristalina Georgieva, promised to collaborate with both the public and private sectors. “To successfully tackle the adaptation and resilience challenge, we will work with governments, the private sector, civil society, and the wider family of development and climate finance institutions. It is vital that we make adaptation and resilience a global priority,” she said

The World Bank boss pledged total commitment to building global awareness of the critical urgency for action in her position as co-Chair of the Global Commission on Adaptation.