Economy
Exclusive-Top development banks at COP28 vow to up climate game, quiet on fossil fuels – document
© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: Delegates walk past flag posts at the Dubai’s Expo City after attending the World Climate Action Summit, during the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP28) in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, December 1, 2023. REUTERS/Thomas Mukoya./File
By Simon Jessop
DUBAI (Reuters) – Ten of the world’s top development banks pledged to step up their climate efforts at the COP28 summit, yet failed to say anything about halting financing for fossil fuel projects, a document seen by Reuters showed.
In a statement to be announced at the event in Dubai, the group, including the World Bank and regional peers, said the window of opportunity to secure a liveable planet was “rapidly closing”.
Calls to overhaul the way the banks are run in response to the climate crisis have picked up amid record extreme weather events, and while the group disbursed a record $61 billion in finance in 2022, it remains just a fraction of what is needed.
With global emissions rising and despite United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres telling world leaders on Friday that ending fossil fuel use was the only way to save the planet, the statement made no direct mention of the issue.
To date, the European Investment Bank is the only one of the signatories to sign the so-called ‘Glasgow Declaration’ and committed to stop lending to fossil fuel projects, with burning of the energy sources responsible for the bulk of human-induced greenhouse gas emissions.
Going forward, the banks said they plan to agree a common approach to tracking and reporting climate impact, and would scale up the use of analytics to help countries identify priorities and investment opportunities.
A new, joint Long-term Strategies Program, hosted by the World Bank, would coordinate support to help countries and sub-national entities develop plans around issues including decarbonisation and climate resilience.
The group also pledged to help countries set up platforms to encourage a “collectively reinforcing combination” of support including around policy reform, finance and technical assistance.
To attract more private capital, the group said it would look at activities including removing “distorting” subsidies and developing pipelines of green projects.
The banks planned to scale up finance to help countries adapt to the impacts of climate change, including through boosting support for disaster risk management, disaster preparedness and capacity building.
They also planned to “strengthen collaboration” across nature, water, health and gender
“Reflecting the urgency and scale of the issues to be addressed, we are boosting our joint action on climate and development, strengthening our collaboration to scale up finance and enhance results measurement, strengthen country-level collaboration, and increase co-financing and private sector engagement,” the statement said.
© Reuters. Russian Central Bank Governor Elvira Nabiullina attends a news conference in Moscow, Russia June 14, 2019. REUTERS/Shamil Zhumatov/File Photo
MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russia’s central bank will need two to three months to make sure that inflation is steadily declining before taking any decision on interest rate cuts, the bank’s governor Elvira Nabiullina told RBC media on Sunday.
The central bank raised its key interest rate by 100 basis points to 16% earlier in December, hiking for the fifth consecutive meeting in response to stubborn inflation, and suggested that its tightening cycle was nearly over.
Nabiullina said it was not yet clear when exactly the regulator would start cutting rates, however.
“We really need to make sure that inflation is steadily decreasing, that these are not one-off factors that can affect the rate of price growth in a particular month,” she said.
Nabiullina said the bank was taking into account a wide range of indicators but primarily those that “characterize the stability of inflation”.
“This will take two or three months or more – it depends on how much the wide range of indicators that characterize sustainable inflation declines,” she said.
The bank will next convene to set its benchmark rate on Feb. 16.
The governor also said the bank should have started monetary policy tightening earlier than in July, when it embarked on the rate-hiking cycle.
© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: Workers walk past an under-construction area with completed office towers in the background, in Shenzhen’s Qianhai new district, Guangdong province, China August 25, 2023. REUTERS/David Kirton/File Photo
SHANGHAI (Reuters) – China’s top planning body said on Saturday it had identified a second batch of public investment projects, including flood control and disaster relief programmes, under a bond issuance and investment plan announced in October to boost the economy.
With the latest tranche, China has now earmarked more than 800 billion yuan of its 1 trillion yuan ($140 billion) in additional government bond issuance in the fourth quarter, as it focuses on fiscal steps to shore up the flagging economy.
The National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) said in a statement on Saturday it had identified 9,600 projects with planned investment of more than 560 billion yuan.
China’s economy, the world’s second largest, is struggling to regain its footing post-COVID-19 as policymakers grapple with tepid consumer demand, weak exports, falling foreign investment and a deepening real estate crisis.
The 1 trillion yuan in additional bond issuance will widen China’s 2023 budget deficit ratio to around 3.8 percent from 3 percent, the state-run Xinhua news agency has said.
“Construction of the projects will improve China’s flood control system, emergency response mechanism and disaster relief capabilities, and better protect people’s lives and property, so it is very significant,” the NDRC said.
The agency said it will coordinate with other government bodies to make sure that funds are allocated speedily for investment and that high standards of quality are maintained in project construction.
($1 = 7.1315 renminbi)
© Reuters. Russian Central Bank Governor Elvira Nabiullina attends a news conference in Moscow, Russia June 14, 2019. REUTERS/Shamil Zhumatov/File Photo
MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russia’s central bank will need two to three months to make sure that inflation is steadily declining before taking any decision on interest rate cuts, the bank’s governor Elvira Nabiullina told RBC media on Sunday.
The central bank raised its key interest rate by 100 basis points to 16% earlier in December, hiking for the fifth consecutive meeting in response to stubborn inflation, and suggested that its tightening cycle was nearly over.
Nabiullina said it was not yet clear when exactly the regulator would start cutting rates, however.
“We really need to make sure that inflation is steadily decreasing, that these are not one-off factors that can affect the rate of price growth in a particular month,” she said.
Nabiullina said the bank was taking into account a wide range of indicators but primarily those that “characterize the stability of inflation”.
“This will take two or three months or more – it depends on how much the wide range of indicators that characterize sustainable inflation declines,” she said.
The bank will next convene to set its benchmark rate on Feb. 16.
The governor also said the bank should have started monetary policy tightening earlier than in July, when it embarked on the rate-hiking cycle.
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