The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) is fully committed to playing its role in ensuring the successful implementation of the historic Paris climate accord.
EBRD President Sir Suma Chakrabarti said: “The Paris accord is a major achievement. We thank the UN and the French authorities for their courage and leadership in driving this forward. Now we face the challenge of turning the agreement into concrete steps. The EBRD is well equipped and willing to make a strong contribution.”
With its Green Economy Transition (GET) approach it will ensure that combatting climate change and addressing its effects is integral to the Bank's activities. Under GET, the EBRD aims to raise climate finance to €18 billion over the next five years. This translates into a target share for green financing of around 40 per cent of total annual investments by 2020 compared with a target share of 25 per cent over the previous five years.
With its investments the EBRD will support the countries where it operates in implementing their Intended Nationally Determined Contributions under the COP21 accord. The sustained focus of the Bank’s investment is on energy efficiency improvement in cities, industries and utilities where the fastest carbon emissions reduction can be achieved. The EBRD is also increasing its activity in climate adaptation financing.
The Paris accord places a major emphasis on the transfer of finance to support climate investments in emerging and developing economies. It provides a good basis for developing further international consensus as well as capacity- and trust-building in tackling global warming.
The EBRD will contribute to this undertaking by applying its own successful track record in attracting private finance and expertise in its own investments in order to maintain a strong flow of funding.
