Recent Posts
Our Wish List for the World Bank’s Evolution Roadmap
November 7, 2022The assignment is clear. During this year’s Annual Meetings of the IMF and World Bank, shareholders instructed the World Bank to develop a work program for its own evolution (“to identify gaps in the Bank’s current institutional and operational framework…”) by the end of the year. Secretary Yellen led the evolution charge, noting, “We do not yet have a sufficiently robust toolkit to address, with scale and urgency, our global and cross-border challenges.” World Bank announcements of rising volumes and shares of climate finance before the meetings did not suffice [...]
COP27: A Brief Account of Contemporary Climate Adaptation and Mitigation Policies, a View from the South
November 4, 2022This year, the Conference of the Parties (COP27) will be held in in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt. On the outset of this auspicious occasion, it is befitting to reflect upon contemporary climate adaptation and mitigation policies, from a southern and African point of view. Indeed, climate change is one of the stickiest policy problems of the 21st century, because it is inherently a global and multidimensional problem entailing a bundle of policy features. Following the consecutives shocks to the global economy caused by fossil fuels, the timing has never been better [...]
Climate Action for Africa at COP27
November 3, 2022Climate finance has failed Africa. African countries receive a grossly insufficient amount of climate finance, falling far short of what they require. For the period 2020-2030, the average annual climate funding needs for Africa are estimated at around $33.5b for adaptation, $72b for mitigation, and $36.5b for loss and damage, totaling $142b. However, annual climate flows to Africa currently stand at only $30b. If the same level of climate funding persists throughout the period 2020-2030, there will be an annual shortfall of $112b – amounting to a total climate finance gap of $1.1tn. At COP26, [...]
It is Unfair to Push Poor Countries to Reach Zero Carbon Emissions too Early
October 27, 2022Last year, climate action was all about declaring dates for achieving net-zero carbon emissions. At the 2021 UN’s climate change conference in Glasgow, COP26, India pledged that it would reach net-zero by 2070, a date just 10 years behind China, despite its per capita emissions being some 30 years behind China’s and only half the present world average. COP27 is just days away, but this year many countries are distracted with energy security issues, instead of upping their game for more aggressive emissions cuts. This COP, we must shift the conversation from futuristic net-zero [...]