World Bank chief says donors, recipients to control new climate fund's resources
Donor countries to an ambitious new climate change fund, along with its recipients, will likely control how its financial resources are spent, World Bank President Ajay Banga said Friday.
"The reality is the Bank is currently not planning to play the role of allocating the money," he told an event at the UN's COP28 summit in Dubai.
"That will be done by a governing board that needs to be created, that should have representation from the donor countries as well as the recipient countries," he added.
Around $700 million has been pledged to the new "loss and damage" fund for countries impacted by climate change since it was approved by nations attending the COP 28 climate summit in Dubai on Thursday.
The amount so far falls well short of the $100 billion developing nations say are needed to meet the costs of changing climate, but more pledges are expected in coming days.
- Limited World Bank role -
The World Bank will most likely play a limited role in the loss and damage fund confined to managing its day-to-day operations, Banga said.
The development lender is frequently criticized by developing countries for the outsized role that major Western economies play in its governance.
Under an unofficial agreement between Europe and the United States, the World Bank has been led since its creation by a US citizen, while the International Monetary Fund has been managed by a European.
"Our job is like a trustee: We run it, we operate it, we hope to make sure the money goes the right places -- because we know how to do that," Banga said of the new fund, adding that it was still in its early stages.
The loss and damage fund was hailed as a positive start to this year's COP summit in the United Arab Emirates, billed as the largest summit to date with more than 140 world leaders due to speak on Friday and Saturday.
Climate finance has been a key sticking point, with wealthy nations most responsible for emissions not delivering on promises to support the vulnerable states who are worst affected but least responsible for global warming.
On Friday, Banga said the new fund would initially look to help finance "technical assistance and analytics" for countries impacted by climate change.
"If this gets done well, sometime next year is when you'll start seeing money actually be put out to help countries on the ground," he added.
