World Bank Group to Raise $200 Billion to Fight Climate Change

(Bloomberg) -- The World Bank Group will spearhead a five-year, $200 billion investment to fight climate change.

The financing will support higher-quality forecasts, early warning systems and climate information services, the group said in a statement. That's expected to build more climate-responsive social protection systems in 40 countries and finance “climate smart agriculture investments” in 20 countries.

“We are pushing ourselves to do more and to go faster on climate and we call on the global community to do the same,” World Bank President Jim Yong Kim said in the release. “This is about putting countries and communities in charge of building a safer, more climate-resilient future.”

The World Bank will contribute half the funds, while the rest will be raised by International Finance Corporation, the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency and private capital. The funding will be applied over a five-year period starting in 2021, the statement said. The World Bank Group provided $20.5 billion in financing for climate action this year.

To contact the reporter on this story: Molly Smith in New York at msmith604@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Nikolaj Gammeltoft at ngammeltoft@bloomberg.net, Virginia Van Natta, Matthew G. Miller

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