Poor Countries Need Climate Funding. These Plans Could Unlock Trillions

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https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/09/climate/imf-world-bank-climate-cop27.html

By David Gelles and Max Bearak, The New York Times. 

Excerpt: SHARM EL SHEIKH, Egypt — The World Bank and the International Monetary Fund were created 80 years ago to rebuild countries devastated by World War II and to stabilize the global economy. But an expanding group of world leaders now say the two powerful institutions need a 21st century overhaul to handle a new destructive force: global warming. There is growing momentum behind a set of ideas that would fundamentally overhaul the two powerful financial institutions, which frequently loan or grant money from rich, industrialized nations to developing countries. The proposals are rapidly gaining traction among heads of state, finance ministers and even leaders of the bank and the fund, who are all meeting now at the United Nations climate summit known as COP27. The current global financial system was designed to try to alleviate poverty through loans or grants to help nations develop or recover from calamity. Loans were based on risk, and wealthier nations were charged lower interest rates and offered better terms than poor countries. But as climate change continues to deliver a cascading series of hurricanes, floods, drought and fires, poor nations have found themselves victims of not only extreme weather but of the financial institutions designed for a different age. They are desperate for funds to recover from climate disasters while also starved for money to prepare for the next calamity. They are saddled with debt, yet need to invest in a transition away from fossil fuels so they can lower the emissions that are heating the planet and causing so much damage in the first place.... 

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