A World Bank senior official has called for international investments to support Global South countries in addressing climate change, stressing that both public and private resources should be mobilized.
In an exclusive interview with China Global Television Network (CGTN), Axel van Trotsenburg, Senior Managing Director of the World Bank, asserted that Global South and North countries share different pathways toward carbonization, stressing that efforts on a worldwide scale are needed to bridge financial divides.
"We need to differentiate because there are countries that are creating many more emissions than others. Take for example Africa. Africa is disproportionately affected by the climate change and carbon emissions, but itself is generating all these 3 percent of global emissions. So, there are differences where one is as a state. Clearly when you are a more middle-income country, in Latin America or here in China, there is a different picture than, for example, in Africa, and that differentiation you have to take into account. Similarly, you need to look at the United States or Europe, where again our differences and those differences, we need to (form a) pact. What is important is that this requires also a different set of policy responses. But I think we should all be very much aware that only jointly we can make progress. And that means we need to make investments. And I highlighted at that time also the challenges of the investment requirements," he said.
"Today, we are collectively maybe investing in the order of 1.3 trillion U.S. dollars in a climate resilient investment. That's only maybe 1.2 percent of global GDP. However, actually we would need maybe five times as much. And that is, where we then need to look. How can we mobilize the private sector, how can we mobilize also governments to do more, and how can we actually make sure that those countries, particularly the poorest countries, get the necessary support. Their investment needs are the highest, sometimes 8 percent of their GDP, but they don't have the resources. So that is a call for helping to support them in good investments that can actually deal with these big challenges," said the World Bank official.
Trotsenburg also highlighted Beijing's continuous and effective efforts in eliminating air pollution, which could serve as a model for other developing countries to realize transformational changes by leveraging necessary investments.
"Beijing, for example, has been able to clean up its enormously polluted air. I worked here ten years ago to see what you can do if you set your mind on it. If you make the necessary investment and also look at the energy transition by, for example having a coal phase-out here around Beijing and it can make enormous effects and have an impact on the population for the good of them. And maybe there are again, things you can learn of and see how we can do with the necessary investment, really make the transformational changes that are required," he said.
World Bank official calls for targeted investment in Global South to address climate change
