United Nations, Jan 25 (IANS) United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Monday urged donor countries and banks to significantly increase the volume and predictability of their finance for climate change adaptation and resilience.
“Donor countries and multilateral, regional and national development banks need to significantly increase the volume and predictability of their finance for adaptation and resilience,” the UN chief told the Climate Adaptation Summit (CAS 2021).
The online global conference, hosted by the Netherlands, is aimed at accelerating, innovating and scaling-up the world’s efforts in adapting the global societies and economies to the inevitable effects of climate change over the coming decade, the Xinhua news agency reported.
The CAS 2021 on January 25-26, which is expected to jumpstart a year of climate-related events, will link up with the World Economic Forum’s Davos Agenda Week scheduled for January 25-29.
Guterres said that he has called for 50 per cent of the total share of climate finance provided by all donors and multilateral development banks to be allocated for climate adaptation and resilience.
“Adaptation cannot be the neglected half of the climate equation,” he noted.
“Let us remember that developed countries must meet the commitments made in the Paris Agreement to mobilise 100 billion dollars a year for mitigation and adaptation in developing countries,” he added.
The UN chief also stressed that all budget allocations and investment decisions need to be climate resilient.
“Climate risk must be embedded in all procurement processes, particularly for infrastructure,” he said.
Guterres also called for efforts to “significantly scale-up existing catastrophe-triggered financial instruments such as the Caribbean Catastrophe Risk Insurance Facility and the African Risk Capacity.”
The Secretary-General urged countries “to ease access to finance, especially for the most vulnerable, and expand debt relief initiatives.”
Finally, he made a call “to support regional adaptation and resilience initiatives.”