As prepared for delivery
Good morning, everyone and thank you for joining us today. On behalf of the World Bank, I would like to welcome you to Innovate4Climate 2024.
Heartfelt thanks to the governments of Germany and Spain for being our gracious hosts this year for I4C.
This year’s theme is about advancing carbon pricing and fostering carbon markets for a livable planet.
Over the next few days, we will engage in critical and dynamic discussions about how we can enhance carbon markets and carbon pricing to be more effective and impactful.
Now more than ever, we need to act urgently to secure a sustainable future for generations to come.
WE have all seen the news of record-breaking temperatures, deadly heatwaves, droughts. We don’t need to be reminded. We can talk about the earth warming to record temperatures, every year. We know there is an urgency to act.
We want to leave no stone unturned in the search for more financing and greater impact on climate.
While the climate crisis is escalating, there are solutions are out there, including investments, policies and development pathways that can make a significant difference.
Carbon pricing is one of the most powerful tools available to policymakers to incentivize least-cost emissions reductions and support low emissions growth.
A decade ago, carbon pricing policies covered only 7% of global emissions. Today, they cover nearly a quarter. In 2023, carbon pricing revenues reached a record $104 billion.
These figures are promising, but to unlock the full potential of carbon pricing, we need to increase both the pricing levels and the coverage while addressing the impacts on the most vulnerable populations.
Carbon markets also hold tremendous potential for advancing and financing global climate action.
Their success depends on being trustworthy, transparent, delivering real emission reductions, while directing much-needed finance to communities and countries most affected by climate change.
And while they offer real potential, carbon markets, have suffered a lot of setbacks.
This shouldn’t be a surprise. There is some confusion, lack of clear signals, lack of enforcement, and markets are responding accordingly. So we need to work better on this side – regulatory, enforcement.
We would like to see what kind of role the Bank can usefully play to make these carbon markets better functioning and be generators of billions of dollars for climate financing.
How can we get to more ambitious framework that ensures much more money coming from these markets for climate markets? We know that this isn’t easy, we also know success is not guaranteed.
At the World Bank, we recognize this potential.
At COP28, we launched a Carbon Markets Engagement Roadmap to work with partners across the carbon markets ecosystem to boost market integrity, build in-country capacity, and support the scaling of carbon markets.
I4C showcases the best of the WBG’s knowledge work - not just cutting-edge analytics and data, but by demonstrating how this information is being channeled for impact.
For example, our analytical work on carbon pricing is helping us support over 30 countries in establishing domestic carbon pricing mechanisms and preparing for the next generation of international carbon markets through our Partnership for Market Implementation.
Our efforts in strengthening carbon markets are a crucial part of the World Bank’s ASCENT program, which aims to deliver electricity to 100 million people in over 20 countries in Eastern and Southern Africa. By deploying $5 billion from the Bank and leveraging innovative financing options like carbon markets, we aim to raise an additional $10 billion.
Last year, the World Bank delivered [$42 billion] to support countries act on climate – we have more than doubled our climate support over the past 4 years. We are committed to going further and faster.
But we also know that to definitively tackle the climate crisis, we need all hands on deck: governments, private sector, civil society, and society at large.
And this why I4C has such a valuable role in convening this diverse network of practitioners and policymakers, creating a platform for meaningful dialogue collaboration, and insights to drive effective climate solutions.
These are invaluable lessons that the new World Bank Group’s Academy is proud to facilitate, empowering practitioners and policymakers to collaborate more effectively.
The World Bank is privileged to host this event and to engage with all of you as we work collectively toward a sustainable and equitable future.
Thank you, and I look forward to a successful I4C 2024
