World Bank boosts climate funding to 45 pct of annual financing

DUBAI, Dec. 2 (Xinhua) -- In efforts to step up the battle against climate change, the World Bank Group has decided to devote 45 percent of its annual financing to climate-related projects for the fiscal year that runs from July 1, 2024, to June 30, 2025.

The increased ambition means putting to work more than 40 billion U.S. dollars, around 9 billion more than previously programmed, the Work Bank said in a press release Friday during the 28th session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP28) climate talks being held here in the United Arab Emirates.

In 2021, the World Bank announced a goal to devote an average of 35 percent of its annual financing to climate-related projects by 2025 and is currently ahead of schedule, running at an average of 36.3 percent since July 2022.

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 the planet.

Delegates from around the world are gathering here for COP28, which runs from Nov. 30 to Dec. 12.