Climate change funding from MDBs reaches USD 24bn in 2013

Sep 19, 2014 - A group of six multilateral development banks (MDBs) has provided USD 23.8 billion (EUR 18.5bn) in funding for 2013 to back projects addressing the challenges of climate change.

This is revealed by the third annual joint MDB report on climate finance released today. The list of banks includes the African Development Bank (AfDB), the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), the European Investment Bank (EIB), the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and the World Bank Group (WBG). The six MDBs have lent more than USD 75 billion for climate friendly projects to developing and emerging economies since 2011.

About 80% or USD 18.9 billion of the total climate finance for 2013 was allocated for mitigation and the rest was dedicated to adaptation, according to the report. Renewable energy accounts for 25%, or USD 4.7 billion, of the total funding dedicated to mitigation, which is “by far the largest share”.

Two regions, east Asia and the Pacific as well as non-EU Europe and central Asia, each got about 20% of the total climate financing. Between 10% and 15% went to each of South Asia, sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean as well as to the new member states of the European Union.

Separately, the EBRD said it had poured USD 20 billion in 816 sustainable energy projects between 2006 and mid-2014. This includes its investment in the 50-MW Salkhit wind farm near the Mongolia's capital of Ulaanbaatar and its financial support for the expansion of the Qairokkum hydropower plant in Tajikistan to 142 MW from 126 MW.

The EBRD has set its own target to provide USD 8 billion in funding for sustainable energy projects between 2012 and 2014. It noted that as at the end of June 2014, it had already spent USD 8.25 billion across 352 schemes. The total project value now stands at USD 44 billion, which is above the initially-estimated USD 30 billion.

(USD 1.0 = EUR 0.778)

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