The World Bank Group (WBG) will change its focus on providing finance to clean energy projects to meet the Paris Agreement climate goals and to curtail climate change in a rapidly changing world, the bank announced late Tuesday.
'The WBG is on track to meet its target of 28 percent of its lending going to climate action by 2020 and to meeting the goals of its Climate Change Action Plan - developed following the Paris Agreement,' the statement read.
The group underlined that it will no longer finance upstream oil and gas, after 2019. In exceptional circumstances, the bank said that consideration would be given to financing upstream gas in the poorest countries where there is a clear benefit in terms of energy access for the poor.
The group said that it will continue to support investments highlighted at the One Planet Summit in Paris on Tuesday.
'This includes accelerating energy efficiency in India; scaling up solar energy in Ethiopia, Pakistan and Senegal among other countries; establishing a West Africa Coastal Areas investment platform to build resilience for coastlines of West African countries,' the group's statement read.
In addition, the group explained that it would continue to work with the United Nations and other partners on the implementation of the Invest4Climate platform, which will systematically crowd in multiple sources of finance, with a major event showcasing investment opportunities planned for May 2018 at the Innovate4Climate conference in Frankfurt.
Furthermore, in line with countries submitting updated Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) at the heart of the Paris Agreement, the Group will present a stock-take of its Climate Change Action Plan and announce new commitments and targets beyond 2020 at COP24 that will be held in Poland in 2018.
By Gulsen Cagatay
Anadolu Agency
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