As Prepared for Delivery
We are here at a critical moment in the arc of humanity – and the planet.
But it is not a moment without hope.
The resources of wealthy nations can create opportunities, meanwhile the abundance of sun, wind, fertile soil, and young people enjoyed by emerging economies could drive our future.
DUBAI, December 1, 2023 – With an ambitious financing package announced at COP28, the World Bank Group is helping people in developing countries better withstand the devastation of climate change and create a better world for their children and grandchildren.
The World Bank Group is pushing to do more to battle climate change and do it faster, devoting 45 percent of its annual financing to climate-related projects for the fiscal year that runs from July 1, 2024, to June 30, 2025.
This increased ambition is more than just a laudable percentage—it’s putting to work more than $40 billion—around $9 billion more than previously programmed. In 2021, the Bank announced a goal to reach an average of 35 percent by 2025 and is currently ahead of schedule, running at an average of 36.3 percent since July 2022.
In October, the World Bank secured an ambitious—and expanded—mandate to create a world free of poverty on a livable planet. The new climate pledge is a concrete example of the Bank delivering on that mandate.
In addition to boosting resilience and adaptation among those hardest hit by the effects of climate change, World Bank Group projects also will focus on safeguarding ecosystems and biodiversity to protect the health of people and planet.
Having pledged to squeeze more from its balance sheet to fund the fight against climate change, the Bank will continue to deliver on adaptation to help countries devastated by climate shocks and on mitigation to help reduce the greenhouse gases contributing to climate change.
Last Updated: Dec 01, 2023
DUBAI/WASHINGTON, Dec. 3, 2023 — The World Bank announced today at COP28 a new Climate and Health Program to urgently respond to the rising negative health impacts of climate change in low- and middle-income countries.
Through this program, the World Bank will help countries to assess their climate and health vulnerabilities, increase investments in climate-resilient health systems, and work with partners to mobilize additional financing, evidence, and collective action to reduce the impacts of climate change on people’s health and livelihoods.
New World Bank data shows that a warmer climate could lead to at least 21 million additional deaths by 2050 from just five health risks: extreme heat, stunting, diarrhea, malaria, and dengue. Preventing these deaths requires immediate action to reinforce health systems, particularly in climate-vulnerable countries, predominantly in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. The World Bank also estimates that by 2030 the impacts of climate change on health will force 44 million more people into extreme poverty.
“Climate change amplifies health risks, creating a cycle of ill health and poverty with far-reaching consequences for human capital development,” said Mamta Murthi, Vice President for Human Development at the World Bank. “Through the Climate and Health Program, the World Bank will use its knowledge and financing to help countries address health risks stemming from climate change, work across related sectors, and bring together partners to maximize financing and harmonize investments and actions.”
The Climate and Health Program will include generating evidence on the most cost-effective interventions to tackle the climate and health crisis; increasing financing for solutions that can build sustainable and resilient health systems in client countries; and build strong partnerships to amplify impact. Specifically, the program will:
As part of this program, the World Bank is co-convening a Development Bank Working Group for Climate-Health Finance with participation from multilateral and public development banks to align and maximize climate and health investments. The World Bank also works in partnership with the World Health Organization, Gavi and the Global Fund, foundations, and others to scale up climate and health action.
The impact of the climate crisis on the health of current and future generations depends on the decisions we make today. The World Bank is committed to supporting countries to address the greatest health challenge of our time.
For more information, please visit our health and climate change brief and follow @WBG_Health
PRESS RELEASE NO: 2024/034/HD
Alexandra Humme
The World Bank Group is doubling down on its climate action, as part of its new vision to end poverty on a livable planet. Our live programming will focus on climate solutions, emissions reduction, energy transition, adaptation and climate finance; all while exploring the link between climate change and development.
Follow the conversation on social media #LivablePlanet.
Concessional finance—that is, grants and low-interest loans—is more important than ever for the
world’s poorest countries. Yet
Solving the water crisis is central to our future on a livable planet. Whether it is too much, too little, or too polluted water, this triple threat, exacerbated by climate change, denies billions of people reliable access to safe water and sanitation. It threatens economies, fuels migration, and can ignite conflict. We need global action to establish water security for green, resilient, and inclusive growth, and to tackle the water-climate-conflict nexus.
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Small businesses can play an impactful role in fragile and conflict affected situations (FCS). They can create jobs and directly provide necessity goods and services such as food, water, health, education, and transportation. They can also contribute to the resilience of local populations during periods of conflict.
However, small businesses operating in FCS countries endure numerous setbacks to their activity, from frequent electricity cuts to bribery to armed attacks. Surviving and growing in these situations is difficult. Navigating daily challenges without access to affordable credit is almost impossible.
As it turns out, access to bank credit is consistently reported as a key business environment constraint for small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in FCSs countries. True, access to finance is a problem for SMEs in every country, including in advanced economies, but it is particularly acute in FCS countries (figure 1).
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What drives SME financial exclusion in FCS countries vis-à-vis non-FCS countries? In a recent paper we examine this question, focusing in particular on the role of economic fundamentals and institutional factors. Economic fundamentals matter for SME financial inclusion. Higher incomes and better physical infrastructure increase savings and the pool of funds in the economy and improve access to finance while macroeconomic and financial stability can positively affect credit and other financial services to SMEs.
Institutions—the rules of the game in a society—matter too. Institutions influence the development of entrepreneurship and can support SME financial inclusion by improving the information environment and strengthening contract enforcement, as well as supporting equal treatment of firms in access to financial services.
On both counts, FCS countries generally lag behind non-FCS countries, especially, as would be expected, in terms of institutional development (figure 2). But what do we find in the data?
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The results of our analysis show that output growth has a negative impact on SME financial inclusion in FCS countries, probably reflecting demand for countercyclical finance — typically backed by the government — by financially constrained SMEs that otherwise tend to resort to internal funds to finance their operations and investment.
On the other hand, price stability, a key sign of macroeconomic stability, is associated with higher SME financial inclusion in FCS countries. Moreover, access and usage of financial services by SMEs in FCS countries tends to increase with economic development, for example, income levels.
Other economic fundamentals also play a role in SME financial inclusion in FCS countries. Economies with large informal sectors tend to face tighter constraints on SME financial inclusion. Similarly, the lack of economic diversification also has a significant impact. Financial sector characteristics also affect SME access and usage of finance. The quantity of financial intermediation, such as deeper credit markets, helps enhance SME financial inclusion, and this is particularly important in FCS contexts.
The quality of financial intermediation is equally important because government and state-owned enterprise financing can crowd out credit to the private sector, including SMEs. In our sample of FCS countries, available credit tends to go proportionally more to the public sector than the private sector compared to non-FCS countries. Our analysis suggests that a significant role is played by crowding out effects in FCS countries. A lack of competition among banks reduces SME financial inclusion in FCS countries. Reducing banking market concentration is found to have a positive impact on SME access and usage of formal financial services in FCS countries. Finally, banking sector soundness, as measured by the quality of lending (NPL ratio), significantly and strongly supports SME financial inclusion.
Turning to institutional factors, strong governance and stable institutions exert a significant influence on SME access and usage of formal financial services in FCS countries. Voice and accountability, political stability, government effectiveness, and control of corruption are all positively correlated with SME financial inclusion. The importance of government effectiveness and control of corruption is particularly strong for FCS countries.
Credit information is also a key factor for SME financial inclusion. Rules affecting the scope, accessibility, and quality of credit information available through public or private credit registries can greatly facilitate banking relationships, and they are especially important for FCS countries.
Constraints to the quality of contract enforcement, property rights, and the effectiveness of courts, as well as to the ability of the authorities to formulate and implement policies and regulations that permit and promote private sector development, are negatively correlated with SME access and usage of formal financial services. Their impact is significantly stronger for FCS countries, suggesting that improvements in the overall business environment can have relatively sizable effects on SME financial inclusion in those countries.
Our analysis shows that the macrofinancial and institutional constraints that affect SME access and usage of formal financial services are similar across FCS countries and non-FCS countries, with differences in degree rather than in kind , that is, the relative importance of constraints is greater in FCS countries, particularly in middle- income FCS countries. Accordingly, to advance SME financial inclusion it is important to designing and implementing comprehensive strategies that take into account proper macroeconomic and financial policy frameworks and conducive governance, institutional and regulatory arrangements, tailored to country contexts.
Deadline: 06-Jul-2022 at 11:59:59 PM (Eastern Time – Washington D.C.) 
The Government of Serbia (the IFCs Client) aims to attract private investment through a Public-Private Partnership for the development of the Danube riverway corridor port(s). The Client will be assisted by IFC in structuring and implementing the project(s). IFC is hereby seeking the assistance of a Technical Environmental & Social Consultant (the Consultant) for the structuring and tendering of a concession for the ports. The Consultant will report directly to IFC. IFCs advisory mandate will be implemented in two phases and the Consultant will work alongside IFC and the other specialized consultants (legal, etc.), as will be further described in RFP to be sent to short-listed candidates.
Netherlands for the World Bank 
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