US pressure on development banks to scrap climate finance goals

{"text":[[{"start":0,"text":"The UN agreement to provide $1.3tn in climate finance is under threat, as multilateral lenders are expected to follow the World Bank in dumping green targets after intense US pressure."}],[{"start":20.88,"text":"At least two multilateral development banks, the Inter-American Development Bank and the Asian Development Bank, were in discussions about scrapping climate finance targets, people familiar with talks said."}],[{"start":32.08,"text":"It comes after the World Bank in June said it would “retire” a target for 45 per cent of its financing to go to projects that offered climate “co-benefits”."}],[{"start":41.84,"text":"A senior development finance expert said: “MDBs are kowtowing to US pressures . . . It will have enormous consequences.”"}],[{"start":50.04,"text":"Countries including the UK and Germany, under increased budget and political pressure, are also expected to cut international climate finance, which is provided to help developing nations shift their economies away from fossil fuels or to respond to the effects of climate change."}],[{"start":65.72,"text":"Under President Donald Trump, who has called climate change a “con job”, the US has pushed multilateral development banks and countries to wind down green financing. It has also pressed for a rollback on restrictions on financing fossil fuels, one development bank official said."}],[{"start":81.44,"text":"Two people familiar with talks said the IDB, the main source of multilateral financing in Latin America and the Caribbean, had come under “real pressure” to dump its target for climate to account for 45 per cent of financing."}],[{"start":94.14,"text":"In 2025, IDB increased climate finance by 46 per cent on the previous year to $9.95bn."}],[{"start":null,"text":""}],[{"start":101.8,"text":"The Manila-based ADB was also weighing whether to dump its target, two other people said, although it had fewer direct demands from the US."}],[{"start":109.36,"text":"Last year, ADB committed $13.5bn in climate finance from its own resources, representing just over half of its total annual committed financing."}],[{"start":119.32,"text":"“All the MDBs with large US shareholding will likely drop targets,” said one development finance official."}],[{"start":125.2,"text":"IDB said climate finance had been “an important tool for tracking effort and ambition, but financing volumes alone do not fully capture results”. What “ultimately matters” was whether investments were making communities more resilient, avoid emissions and develop among other metrics, it added."}],[{"start":141.08,"text":"“For that reason, we are exploring how to place greater emphasis on metrics that measure impact and results,” the group said. This did “not reflect a change in our commitment to climate action, our policies or our operational priorities.”"}],[{"start":154.68,"text":"ADB said its climate finance targets remained in place, and would be reviewed in 2027 as part of its “regular institutional procedure.”"}],[{"start":163.84,"text":"It was focused on responding to demand for support in resilience to floods, droughts, sea-level rise, and increasing extreme weather events, as well as support for affordable, reliable, and cleaner energy and transport, it said."}],[{"start":177.4,"text":"MDBs have become an increasingly key part of climate finance efforts. Their contribution to lending to low and middle income countries was boosted to $103bn last year, up a fifth on the year before. This is typically leveraged by using the relatively small amounts of paid-in public donor capital to borrow larger sums at low rates from capital markets and work with the private sector."}],[{"start":201.2,"text":"The removal of climate finance targets would make it harder for developed nations to meet their obligations to provide international climate finance. Countries previously agreed to mobilise at least $300bn annually for developing nations by 2035 and work towards reaching $1.3tn over the same period."}],[{"start":220.96,"text":"Joe Thwaites, international climate finance director at the NRDC advocacy group, argued that “the US isn’t the only shareholder that matters, nor are these institutions the only ones in town. It is quite smart for donors to make clear they can and will move their money.”"}],[{"start":237.12,"text":"Another development finance official said the “optics” of the banks rolling back climate finance targets at a time when wildfires and floods were devastating large populations were “horrendous”."}],[{"start":248.6,"text":"Many countries are also expected to reduce climate financing contributions over the coming years, with analysis by Greenpeace in Germany warning Berlin was unlikely to meet its target of providing €6bn a year."}],[{"start":261.04,"text":"The UK has also scaled back its international climate aid, reducing spending to £6bn over the next three years, down from a previous target of £11.6bn over five years. Earlier this year it halved a pledge to the UN Green Climate Fund."}],[{"start":276.52,"text":"In 2024, the hottest year on record, climate finance reached $2tn, but the vast majority went to developed countries and China."}],[{"start":null,"text":""}],[{"start":null,"text":""}],[{"start":288.8,"text":""}]],"url":"https://audio.ftcn.net.cn/album/a_1789300571_6797.mp3"}