Since the first Joint Report, which covered 2011, figures reported for climate finance have been based on a jointly developed MDB tracking methodology, which has been gradually updated and detailed. From the 2014 report onwards, the methodology has included reporting on climate co-finance alongside MDB climate finance. In 2015, the MDBs and the International Development Finance Club (IDFC) agreed on a set of Common Principles for finance to mitigate climate change and an initial set of Common Principles for finance to support adaptation to climate change. Their intention was to take a common approach to tracking and, in future, to reporting climate finance. These institutions are expected to promote the Common Principles as their starting point and to discuss all differences transparently. The Paris Agreement’s vision of making financial flows consistent with low greenhouse gas emissions and climate-resilient development – Article 2.1(c) of the Agreement – will be important in this ongoing work to improve tracking and reporting. In order to address challenges and to further enhance their tracking methodologies, the joint MDB climate finance tracking group has formalised the coordination of two existing work streams. The first stream covers climate change mitigation and is coordinated by the European Investment Bank, while the second addresses climate change adaptation and is coordinated by the Inter-American Development Bank. The methodologies presented in Annexes B and C of the report contain a number of incremental improvements and clarifications compared with the 2016 edition.
This seventh edition of the Joint Report on Multilateral Development Banks’ Climate Finance is an overview of financing committed by the African Development Bank (AfDB), the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), the European Investment Bank (EIB), the Inter-American Development Bank Group (IDBG) and the World Bank Group (WBG), to projects and activities in 2017 that mitigate climate change and support adaptation to climate change. In addition, this year’s report summarises information on climate finance tracking from the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB).
The report presents that MDBs “committed US$ 35,219 million in climate finance in developing and emerging economies in 2017 – US$ 27,868 million or 79 per cent of this total for climate change mitigation finance and US$ 7,352 million or 21 per cent of this total for climate change adaptation finance. The net total climate co-finance committed during 2017 alongside MDB resources was US$ 51,718 million. When combined with the MDB climate finance, it brings the year’s total climate finance to US$ 86,937 million. This is the third edition of the Joint Report on MDBs’ Climate Finance to include climate co-finance.”