Right policy and investment decisions critical
TO reach net-zero greenhouse emissions by 2050, countries all over the world must make significant progress this decade.
And Borrowing Members of the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) have been advised that when responding to climate change, they must think in terms of pathways.
“If we make the right policy, and investment decisions in this short-run, we can ensure our societies and economies are equipped to identify, assess, and respond to climate change-related risks and opportunities continuously and collectively,” said Vice-President of Operations at CDB, Isaac Solomon.
He explained that this will help protect against short-term losses and damage, and thereby ensure they have the resources and capacity needed to continue investing in adaptation in the next year, the next decade, and thereafter.
Solomon was at the time addressing CDB’s ‘Climate Action in a Post COVID-19 Environment” seminar, recently.
“It is imperative that all Caribbean countries pursue these type of climate resilient pathways,” he stressed.
“If we do not make the right policy and investment decisions now, the impacts of climate change on our people, livelihoods and physical assets will mount. This could lead to considerable human suffering, and significantly reduce fiscal space and deteriorate private balance sheets across the region.
“In short, if we are not able to mitigate the impacts of a change climate over the next five to 10 years, we may be even more ill-equipped to adapt to the increasingly severe and frequent climatic hazards. We cannot and will not allow our region to pursue this type of climate vulnerability pathway,” he told the panel.
The Vice-President of Operations also gave the assurance that CDB recognises the urgency and scale with which they must act and is working diligently to provide more and better support to its borrowing member countries.
In fact, he disclosed that the Bank is committed to providing 25% to 30% of its own resources for climate finance by 2024 – a significant increase compared to past years. He said that CDB also recognises the need to scale up flows of highly concessional climate finance to the region.
“The Bank has therefore developed an ambitious pipeline of programs and projects to be co-financed by the Green Climate Fund and Adaptation Fund and others and is also strengthening its collaboration with other multilateral Development Banks and development partners to finance climate action in the region.”