Development banks unite on COVID-19, sustainability
Public development banks representing total annual investment of $2.3 trillion are joining forces to form a global coalition in response to the coronavirus pandemic and to contribute to the achievement of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals.
The joint declaration - which also aims to boost the objectives of the Paris Agreement to combat climate change - was signed during the first Finance in Common summit.
The lenders - including the African Development Bank, the Council of Europe Development Bank, the Islamic Development Bank Group, the Asian Development Bank, World Bank, and New Development Bank among others, “commit to support the transformation of the global economy and societies towards sustainable and resilient development”.
The signatories stress their “determination to collectively shift our strategies and operations”. They commit to enhancing the crowding-in of private investment, to working to increase the scale and sustainable development impact of private financial flows, and to fostering capital market development and the alignment of these markets with the SDGs and the Paris Agreement through innovative approaches, alternative finance and blended finance. Overcoming the coronavirus is only a first step towards addressing long-term challenges such a climate change through "building back better”.
