President Muhammadu Buhari on Tuesday, December 12, 2017 in Paris appealed to the international community to support Nigeria’s commitment to reducing the negative effects of climate change.

The president’s Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Mr Femi Adesina in a statement in Abuja said Buhari made the appeal in a submission to the “One Planet Summit” in Paris, France.

The summit with the theme “Climate Change Financing’’, was attended by over 60 heads of state and governments, as well as representatives of non-governmental  and private organisations.

President Buhari told participants of the summit that Nigeria could not implement its Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) without adequate financial, technical and capacity building support from developed countries.

He added that “since the adoption of the Paris Agreement, we have been strengthening our national efforts toward implementing the accord and the Marrakech Call for Action.”

He said Nigeria had already ratified the Paris Agreement in May 2017 but that the country’s NDCs to reduce emission by 20 per cent by 2020 and 40 per cent by 2030 could not be attained alone.

According to him, the country is not under illusion of the challenges it is facing, having just come out of recession.

The President added that “Nigeria recognises that ensuring sustainable funding is a major constraint in efforts to implement the Nationally Determined Contributions.

“Critical mass of financial resources beyond what we can provide from our national resources will be required to effectively respond to climate change mitigation and adaptation challenges.”

On steps Nigeria took to meet its national goal in this respect, he said the country had embraced the issuance of green bond as innovative and alternative source of projects funding that would help to reduce emissions and provide robust climate infrastructure.

He explained that such infrastructure included renewable energy, low carbon transport, water infrastructure and sustainable agriculture in line with the Paris Agreement.

In furtherance of efforts to deliver the country’s pledges, the President said government was “tightening existing governance structure in Nigeria for more effective implementation of climate change activities.”

According to him, this will include additional responsibilities that will follow
the adoption of all-encompassing climate change treaty.

He noted that “government is actively promoting technologies and practices such as sustainable land management, climate resilient agriculture, water efficiency, clean energy and skills for reducing greenhouse gas emissions, among others.’’

He, however, noted that sustaining these efforts would also require external support.

The measures required, he said, included “accelerating Research and Development on facilitating Access to Climate Friendly Technologies through technology pooling and collective approach to financing Research and Development”.

Others, according to him, include regulating restrictive practices in licencing agreements and anti-competitive uses of Intellectual Property and International Declaration on Climate Technologies.

He said: “In Nigeria, we are looking at insurance-based proposals to deal with loss, damage and adaptation to the poor, vulnerable and hard-to-reach groups.

“Risk mitigation through insurance must benefit those groups who currently have negligible access to any form of indemnity coverage.

“Vulnerable groups will also benefit from new technologies and ways to make insurance schemes affordable, including long term premium support.’’

The president acknowledged the fact that “the adverse impacts of climate change such as temperature rise; erratic rainfall, sand storms, desertification, low agricultural yields, drying up of water bodies like Lake Chad, gully erosion and constant flooding were a daily reality in Nigeria.”

He, therefore, admitted that highly vulnerable communities lacked the capacity to cope.

He said Nigeria would require external assistance in long term solution for source of clean power, which could be achieved through private investments to create economic competitiveness for industrialisation.

He added that “job creation and agriculture programmes throughout the country as well as inclusion of Nigeria in Climate Regional Programmes, especially strong financial support to planned project for the replenishment of Lake Chad were highly necessary.”

The President said long term solution would ensure sustained livelihood for rural and urban communities, and permanently address the conditions conducive to the spread of violent extremism and terrorism, and stem illegal migration, especially of youths abroad.

In acknowledging that external support must be sustained on long term basis, Buhari emphasised that “the changes that Nigeria and other developing countries need to make cannot be undertaken overnight.”

He said fundamental restructuring of the economy was required, adding that “in this process, technology will be a powerful tool to simultaneously address climate change and advance development.”

The President said he looked up to developed countries to jointly take a leading role in mobilising support for this action plan on addressing the challenges of climate change within the framework of the General Assembly of the United Nations.

In their remarks, the three co-chairmen of the plenary session stressed the imperative of global comprehensive and speedy action, including private sector financing against the devastating impact of climate change.

The co-chairmen are the UN Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres; World Bank President, Jim Yong Kim; and French President, Emmanuel Macron.

Adesina disclosed that President Buhari had, before the summit, attended a luncheon hosted by his French counterpart in honour of visiting heads of state and governments at the Elysee Palace.

By Ismaila Chafe

The One Planet Summit, held at the instance of French President Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday, December 12, 2017 in Paris, saw the emergence of what observers tag numerous positive initiatives, such as the World Bank committing to stop financing oil and gas exploration and extraction projects by 2019 and AXA insurance halting all new coal and oil sands development, and announcing €12 billion of green investment by 2020.

The Climate Action Network (CAN) stressed that while they are positive steps in the right direction, the pledges are not enough to meet the objectives of the Paris Agreement and the needs of vulnerable communities to adapt to climate change and deal with the damages and losses caused by its impacts.

“We know from the 2017 United Nations Emissions Gap Report that we are not on track. The report tells us that we need to triple efforts, step up both private and public finance and accelerate the deployment of renewables to meet the goals of the Paris Agreement and keep warming below 1.5C,” CAN emphasised in a statement made available to EnviroNews.

According to the group, 2017 is probably among the five-warmest since about 150 years and brought massive hurricanes in the Atlantic and the Caribbean, devastating floods in south Asia and out of control wildfires in California. Simultaneously, CAN adds, 2017 might have broken the global record of man-made CO2 emissions after three years of stagnating carbon pollution, indicating that global use of fossil fuels is growing stronger than its replacement by renewables.

“This only means that faster and more urgent and concrete action is needed especially by governments to avert further and severe devastation of people and destruction of ecosystems.

“Despite these warning signs, many governments, private and multilateral development and financial institutions are still funding fossil fuels in the range of hundreds of billion dollars annually. This undermines the Paris Treaty and is a complete waste of time and money that we can no longer afford.

“Governments, banks and other major actors must immediately shift investments from the energy of the past, the dirty fossil fuel industry of coal, oil and gas towards 100% renewable energy, the cheapest, healthiest and most productive energy source. Countries must also move towards energy efficiency and sustainable land use to prepare for a fully decarbonised economy by mid-century latest.

“This Summit was good for the momentum needed for 2018, a critical year filled with many opportunities and moments for countries to step up and demonstrate ambition,” CAN noted
The summit likewise attracted comments from numerous CAN members.

Greenpeace International climate campaigner Gyorgy Dallos: “The end is clearly coming for the oil and gas industry as the pace of change accelerates. After Norges Bank’s historic announcement, the World Bank – as one of the world’s most powerful financial institutions – has sent a damning vote of no confidence to the future of the fossil fuel industry. The world’s financial institutions now need to take note and decide whether their financing is going to be part of the problem or the solution. Critically, we also welcome the World Bank taking the challenge to set a unifying standard for green bonds. This is much needed especially considering the ongoing review of the China Green Bond Catalogue, which still includes coal.”

Manuel Pulgar-Vidal, WWF Climate & Energy Practice Leader: “The need for climate action has never been more urgent than now. Initiatives, such as this Summit hosted by President Emmanuel Macron, are important to keep our leaders committed, political will high and momentum in scaling and speeding up new and existing climate actions across all actors. This is critical if we are to keep warming below 1.5°C and avoid the worst impacts of climate change.”

Harjeet Singh, Climate Lead for ActionAid International: “On the second anniversary of the Paris Agreement, President Macron has successfully attracted a who’s who of world and business leaders. The World Bank’s announcement  on shifting investments away from fossil fuels marks an important step towards a greener global economy.

“Many leaders put the spotlight on climate impacts and strategies to cope, and plenty of sympathy was expressed for the countries suffering from extreme climate events. Unfortunately, sympathy doesn’t cover costs for vulnerable communities overwhelmed with climate impacts. The world needs major mobilisations of public finance to cope with the scale of the challenge.

“President Macron had raised expectations that he would make a concrete announcement of more public finance to help poor countries deal with climate impacts and to scale up climate action. Instead, business took centre stage, while announcements of public finance were disappointingly scarce. Sadly, most of the leaders at the One Planet Summit seem to have forgotten that public financing is necessary for people to protect their safety and food security from climate impacts. While action by businesses is needed, governments need reminding that they can’t fix climate change by giving up their responsibilities and letting business dictate the entire climate agenda.

“The notable exception was the announcement of £140 million from the UK government, to help poor communities suffering from climate impacts. Theresa May sent an important message to world leaders, that rich countries must recognise their responsibility to provide public finance to help vulnerable countries to deal with climate impacts.

Brett Fleishman, 350.org Senior Finance Campaigner: “President Macron and other world leaders, are meeting right now to supposedly discuss shifting capital to climate solutions. But we are here to ring the alarm by bringing attention to the unabated support of the fossil fuel industry. We have research that clearly demonstrates that the French government, through its many agencies, is still invested in the energies sources of the past. This acts as a drag on the climate finance summit. This charade of caring about the planet can’t go on. Every euro and dollar spent on adaptation and mitigation is undercut by even more money spent on the fossil fuel industry. Whatever the outcomes from this summit, the global climate movement will keep on pushing through 2018 to accelerate the transition away from fossil fuels to 100% renewable energy for all.”

Alex Doukas, Director of the Stop Funding Fossils Programme at Oil Change International:
“The World Bank’s monumental announcement that they are moving out of upstream oil and gas finance after 2019 stole the show in Paris. This move from the World Bank demonstrates real climate leadership, and could help signal a broader shift away from the tens of billions of dollars in public finance that G20 governments and multilateral development banks dump into fossil fuels each year. These institutions still provide $72 billion in public finance to fossil fuels annually, which is why a shift away from fossil fuel finance is crucial if we hope to meet the aims of the Paris Agreement. Government commitments to scale up climate finance are important, but they’re not enough. Others need to follow the lead of the World Bank and signal that they will stop funding fossils.”

Nick Mabey, CEO and Co-founder E3G: “The success of the One Planet Summit shows the world has moved past Trump and is focusing on delivering the Paris Agreement. The sheer amount of announcements at the Summit prove smart finance is moving out of fossil fuels and into the clean economy. We must now follow through to make sure governments, businesses and financial institutions increase their climate ambition to 2020 and beyond.”

Sven Harmeling, Global Policy Lead, Care International’s Climate Change and Resilience Platform: “CARE welcomes the One Planet Summit where promising announcements were made to move away from fossil fuels to help slow down the escalation of climate change, such as by the World Bank and the insurance company AXA. However, we are disappointed by the lack of commitments from developed countries for adaptation finance which is necessary to help vulnerable people, especially women and girls, prepare for climate change impacts such more severe floods and droughts. Nations and private donors must step up their ambition in 2018.”

Erin Flanagan, Federal policy director at the Pembina Institute in Canada: “Canada continues to take steps to phase-out dirty coal-fired power from its domestic electricity mix by 2030. And today, together with the World Bank, it took a new step to accelerate the coal-to-clean transition around the world. We commend this important step forward and call on other countries join in this momentum.”

Aki Kachi, International Policy Director, Carbon Market Watch: “On the anniversary of the landmark Paris Agreement, world leaders have gathered again in Paris to reiterate their commitment and many mention carbon pricing. For carbon pricing to actually play the role it needs to, taxes and cap and trade programmes need to start to bite: prices must rise rapidly to 40-80 USD per tonne CO2 by 2020.”

Christoph Bals, Policy Director, Germanwatch, said: “The One Planet Summit showed we are in a new phase of international climate action focusing on achieving the objectives agreed by all governments of the world two years ago. The summit showed that there is enormous momentum to step up global climate action, particularly in three areas: formulating a clear objective for national long term targets of net-zero emissions by 2050; setting an investment relevant minimum price on carbon emissions; and requiring companies to disclose their climate risks and strategies in a forward looking and comparable way. For the future German government, this summit has formulated clear homework: France is asking for a joint leadership role to set a carbon-neutrality objective by 2050, to introduce a investment relevant minimum carbon price for all sectors and make forward looking climate disclosure mandatory for companies and investors.”

Catherine Abreu, Executive Director, Climate Action Network Canada: “Celebrating the second anniversary of the Paris Agreement by showcasing its influence on global economic trends was a brilliant way to drive home the real world implications of climate action and the need to support the world’s most vulnerable communities as they fight climate change and respond to its devastating impacts. However, high-level Summits are only as good as the actions they generate, and the world will be watching to see to what extent momentum is increased to shift financial flows and mobilise the trillions of dollars in climate finance required.

“As one of the founders of the Powering Past Coal Alliance, Canada’s move to put its money where its mouth is and partner with the World Bank to finance the coal-to-clean energy transition in developing countries and small island states is a great example of the action required. Now attention must turn, in Canada and around the world, to phasing out fossil fuel subsidies. Countries can’t adequately fund climate solutions while they continue to fund the problem.”

Nithi Nesadurai Regional Coordinator Climate Action Network South-East Asia: “The One Planet Summit keeps the focus of the global community on the Paris Agreement and outcomes of COP23, as we move into the COP24 next year when countries are expected to raise their ambition on climate action through the Talanoa Dialogue. But for this Summit to be truly meaningful, it needs to send a message that most of the global community, with industrialised countries taking the lead, need to go faster and further than previously considered towards raising their ambition to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Non-state actors and all sectors also need to take ownership of this effort and step up if we are to get to our goal of keeping temperature rise below 1.5C. It is the least we can do for our planet.”

Like most African countries, Ethiopia is one of the world’s poorest and most densely populated, experiencing climate change effects including changes in rainfall patterns and severe droughts. However, Ethiopia has taken advantage of the challenges and is transforming her once faltering economy into the world’s fastest growing economy, according to the World Bank.

World Bank’s June 2017 edition of Global Economic Prospects identifies Ethiopia as the fastest-growing economy this year. The country’s GDP was projected to grow at 8.3% in contrast to global growth projected to be 2.7%.

While, Analysts have credited the nation’s accelerated growth to government spending on infrastructural development, the Ethiopian government, however, attributes the phenomenal growth to the re-positioning of the country’s leadership to address its complex challenges “through the green growth path that fosters development and sustainability.”

Ethiopia is pursuing a path of green economy, in which growth in income and employment is driven by public and private investments that reduce carbon emissions and pollution, enhance energy and resource efficiency, and prevent the loss of biodiversity and ecosystem services. Thus, the country has a vision to “achieve middle-income status by 2025 in a climate-resilient green economy.”

The country’s Green Economy Strategy document titled, “Ethiopia’s Climate-Resilient Green Economy,” (CRGE), outlines how the country intends to make progress in that direction. The country is focusing selectively on the four main pillars of agriculture, forestry, energy and transport, which are key to development and at the same time contribute significantly to carbon emissions.

Carbon emission is the release of carbon dioxide mainly from the burning of fossil fuels like natural gas, crude oil and coal as well as the destruction of forests and tilling of land. These activities also release other dangerous gases, which together with carbon, are known as greenhouse gases (GHG) that contribute to global warming and are harmful to the earth and human life.

Ethiopia’s strategic plan for agriculture is to improve crop and livestock production practices for higher food security and farmer income, while reducing emissions. In the forestry sector, the goal is to protect and re-establish forests for their economic and ecosystem services, including carbon stocks. The goal for the energy sector is to expand electricity generation from renewable sources of energy for domestic and regional markets. While, the country is seeking to completely overhaul its transport, industry and construction sectors through modern energy-efficient technologies.

As part of the strategy, the government has selected four initiatives for fast-track implementation. The initiatives are specifically looking at exploiting the vast hydropower potential, large-scale promotion of advanced rural cooking technologies, efficiency improvements to the livestock value chain, and Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD).

According to the Strategy Document, “these initiatives have the best chances of promoting growth immediately, capturing large abatement potentials, and attracting climate finance for their implementation.” Moreover, implementing the initiatives will offer important co-benefits such as improved public health, through better air and water quality. It will also promote rural economic development by increasing soil fertility and food security as well as creating additional jobs with high value added.

The Strategy Document acknowledges that the green economy path goals “are ambitious,” considering the implementation period of 14 years from the time the Strategy was approved in 2011 to the assigned attainment deadline of 2025. Besides, building of Ethiopia’s green economy requires an estimated total expenditure of about $150 billion over the next 20 years, according to the Strategy.

But the government is committed to make this work and believes that one sure way of moving forward is through the exchange of GHG emissions abatement for climate finance to fund some of the required investment.

Ethiopia is taking advantage of the various Climate Finance Schemes such as the Green Climate Finance set up by the international community to compensate developing countries for the provision of environmental services to the world. The government is also collaborating with bi- and multilateral development partners as well as the private sector to achieve the ambitious national green goals.

The government has high optimism that many of the initiatives have potential to offer positive returns on investments, and thereby, directly promote economic growth. Indeed, the prospects for growth are high and the government projects a growth rate of 11%, which is above the International Monetary Fund (IMF)’s forecasts for Ethiopia of a real gross domestic product (GDP) growth of 8% yearly over a five year period from 2016 to 2020.

The Ethiopian Ambassador to Ghana, Regassa Kefale Ere, says the on-going transformation of his country’s economy is due to “quality leadership, dedication and determination of government to make the green economy strategy work.”

In an interview, he explained that government has ensured that private sector involvement and investment are being driven by local interests. This means government determines the conditions for financing, rather than the financiers setting the terms for investment. He said: “For instance, in the telecommunication sector, government will not open it up to foreign investors until the entire country is networked.”

“This approach has been adopted because of the realization that markets do not answer all problems, some require government interventions to make things work,” Regassa noted.

He expressed pride in his country’s present status as the world’s cheapest electricity supplier at 0.4 cents (USA) per kilowatts, and the country plans to expand energy production from the current 4,500 megawatts to 17,000 megawatts in the next three years.

“This will be realised after the expansion of the dam is completed to produce a top up energy supply of 6500 megawatts,” says Regassa. And this is likely to boost power supply to neighboring countries like Sudan and Djibouti, who are each currently getting 100 megawatts of power from Ethiopia.

Additionally, the country will be able to fulfill its mandate to Kenya and Tanzania per the terms of a recent power purchasing agreement. Currently, the power transmission line which connects Ethiopia’s national grid to Kenya and Tanzania is under construction, with funding from the African Development Bank (AFDB).

Regassa explained that “the essence of the Green Economy Strategy is that the land and people are the country’s main resources with majority engaged in agriculture, hence the government’s determination to promote agricultural based industrialisation.”

He said, “As part of the strategy, government is establishing a number of industrial parks to enhance and project agro processing, horticulture, leather products, garments and pharmaceuticals.”

To this end, the Hawassa Industrial Park alone is employing 10,000 people at its current partial operational level, but is projected to create over 60,000 jobs at its full operational capacity. Meanwhile, the recently inaugurated Mekelle and Kombolcha Parks are also attracting renowned foreign garment and textile manufacturers.

“Therefore, the number of people employed at the parks is increasing from time to time,” Regassa observed.

By Ama Kudom-Agyemang, Accra

The “Land Degradation Neutrality Fund” initiative promoted by the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) and Mirova (Natixis) to support sustainable land use practices globally was highlighted as a concrete and innovative climate action during the One Planet Summit held on Tuesday, December 12, 2017 in Paris, France. Initial investors, including the European Investment Bank and the Agence Française de Développement, have announced financial commitments totalling more than $100 million out of a target of $300 million.

At the One Planet Summit, organised to celebrate the second anniversary of the Paris Agreement, the “Land Degradation Neutrality Fund” initiative was hailed by Jean-Yves Le Drian, French Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs, as an innovative solution that aligns sustainable land management with the ambition of the Paris Agreement. Developed by the UNCCD and Mirova, an affiliate of Natixis Investment Managers who also provided initial seeding for the Fund, it is one of the responses to the call for public and private finance in support of global climate action.
Restoring degraded land is a huge, yet greatly underestimated and underutilised opportunity to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and to adapt to climate change. By putting sustainable land use at the heart of its climate action, the “Land Degradation Neutrality Fund” initiative addresses the three summit objectives:

1. Act concretely and collectively: This joint effort to put finance at the service of climate action is the outcome of a unique coalition of actors. It will invest in sustainable land management practices all over the world that have already been shown to be effective, but need suitable financing and technical assistance.
2. Innovate: This will be the first investment vehicle to focus on a Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) target, and using an innovative public private partnership structure. Success could motivate the development of new investment vehicles for the goals.
3. Support one another: Climate change is a global issue, but the effects are distributed unevenly, with especially negative impacts on land users. Acting on a global scale, this investment vehicle will therefore provide flexible financing solutions where traditional bank funding is not available.

As early supporter of the fund, all the way through the design and structuring phases, the European Investment Bank was joined by the Agence Française de Développement to become the anchor investors. Other institutional investors include Fondaction, the first north-American private investor, foundation Fondation de France, insurance companies BNP Paribas Cardif and Garance. The initiative is also backed by de-risking partners including the Government of Luxembourg, IDB Invest and the Global Environment Facility. In total, investors have announced commitments of over $100 million out of a target of $300 million.

“The public sector must be bold and inventive to unleash a revolution in development and entrepreneurship that can tackle the manifold and complex challenges before us – climate change, loss of productive land, lack of jobs, forced migration, droughts, floods, the list seems endless. The moment we see the land differently our horizons open wide. Then, the options and possibilities are endless,” says Monique Barbut, Executive Secretary of the UNCCD.

“Implementing such private public schemes is both a challenge, through the pioneering dimension of the approach and the challenge of coordination, but also a great opportunity, through the exchange of knowledge and know-how. Mirova, as a management company dedicated to responsible investment, is committed to supporting initiatives to redirect financial flows towards sustainable development,” comments Philippe Zaouati, CEO of Mirova.

Jean Raby, CEO of Natixis Investment Managers added: “We believe it’s our responsibility, as financial institution, to play a role in the transition to a low-carbon and climate resilient economy. This initiative is in line with Natixis’ commitments to provide concrete and creative climate solutions.”

European Investment Bank Vice President, Jonathan Taylor, said: “Land degradation has negative impacts on water, food and energy security, climate change and biodiversity. That’s why, as the EU Bank, we are proud to support the Land Degradation Neutrality Fund – a first of its kind public private partnership, attracting investments for sustainable land management and land restoration projects.

“This is important for two reasons: one, because we need pilots like this investment vehicle to demonstrate that investing in land degradation neutrality is good business for the private sector; and two because it is key to deliver on the Sustainable Development Goals and Paris Climate targets. We are committed to making the Paris Agreement a reality. Outside the EU, we have pledged 35% of total financing for climate action by 2020. This includes an increased focus on impact, adaptation and mainstreaming climate change considerations into everything we do.”

For Rémy Rioux, CEO of the Agence Française de Développement: “AFD is excited to join forces with other investors for financing climate resilient projects through Land Degradation Neutrality Fund and to participate to the emergence of a new asset class. This initiative complements AFD’s intervention in supporting transition through sustainable management of natural capital resources as common goods, and improving socio-economic conditions for family farmers. The investment policy of Land Degradation Neutrality Fund is in line with our commitment to foster the Paris Agreement implementation.”

Pascal Canfin, Managing Director of WWF France, says: “Every year, no less than 12 million hectares of arable land are degraded – the equivalent of one football field every two seconds – having major consequences on climate and food security. This Land Degradation Neutrality Fund, the biggest public private fund for sustainable land and followed by WWF France since its creation, is a great opportunity to channel investments towards innovative projects for land restauration. It therefore participates in the fight against climate change and global insecurity, and aims at ensuring food security especially for the most vulnerable populations.”

The United States of America has shunned the One Planet Summit that took place in Paris on Tuesday, December 12, 2017.

However, a former US secretary of state, John Kerry, has blasted the absence of the American government at the major climate change summit, saying it is a “disgrace”.

About 60 world leaders and hundreds of ministers, company bosses, and environmentalists gathered for the One Planet Summit called by French President Emmanuel Macron in Paris after Donald Trump’s decision to abandon the global climate accord.

Trump was not invited and the US federal government was represented by the second-highest diplomat in the American embassy in Paris, Brent Hardt, two years to the day since Kerry and then-president Barack Obama helped lead pain-staking diplomatic efforts to clinch the Paris accord.

“It’s very disappointing, it’s worse than disappointing, it’s actually a disgrace when you consider the facts, the science, the common sense, all the work that’s been done,” Kerry told AFP on the summit sidelines.

The Paris Agreement took “26 years of work that’s being dishonoured by people who don’t even understand the science,” he added.

American summit participants included the campaigning governor of California, Jerry Brown, as well as former New York mayor Michael Bloomberg who has put together a coalition of cities, companies and activists called “America’s Pledge” to help reduce US emissions.

Trump’s announcement that he will withdraw from the global pact, which the United States is the only nation to reject, has cast doubt on the viability of the deal which aims to keep global warming below two degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) over pre-industrial levels.

Asked if the United States could meet its Paris accord pledge to reduce emissions by at least 26 percent by 2025, over 2005 levels, Kerry was upbeat because of efforts at the local level.

“I think it is possible, yes,” he told AFP.

Brown and Bloomberg both took aim at Trump’s climate stance.

“We have a climate denier in the White House who says climate change is a hoax,” Brown told a panel.

“We can’t wait for the White House to wake up. We in America are operating from the grassroots… Our work is incredibly difficult.

“We have mobilised to some extent, but we are not yet on track to reduce the rising greenhouse gases,” he added.

Bloomberg said the 1,700-member coalition of regional governments, cities, companies, and civil society groups that have formed America’s Pledge, represent more than half the US economy.

“If it was a country it would have the world’s third-largest economy and it continues to grow,” he said.

“Together we are going to meet the goal set by this country in Paris by reducing emissions by at least 26 percent and there isn’t anything that Washington can do to stop this,” he added.

“On the contrary, President Trump has helped rally people who understand the problem to join forces and to actually do something rather than wait for the federal government… In that sense we owe President Trump a measure of gratitude for helping us meet our goals,” he quipped.

In a joint statement released by the  International Development Finance Club (IDFC) and Multilateral Development Banks (MDBs) at the One Planet Summit in Paris on Tuesday, December 12, 2017, IDFC, MDBs together with major Development Finance Institutions (DFIs) declare that they are aligning financial flows with the Paris Agreement

The global development agenda is being transformed in fundamental ways. The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), agreed upon by the international community, constitute a universal compass, highlighting the need for systemic and collective action for sustainable, equitable and inclusive development for everyone on this planet. The imperative for mobilising and shifting financial flows, public and private, towards sustainable development was highlighted by the 2015 Addis-Ababa Financing for Development Conference. The Paris Agreement reached at COP21 recognised that all countries and stakeholders must act to combat climate change. Since the Agreement’s entry into force in 2016, the momentum for climate action has become irreversible.

Development Finance Institutions (DFIs) play a pivotal role in scaling up and directing climate finance, and in helping shape the policies and regulations needed to transition to low-carbon, climate resilient development, including achieving net zero emissions in the second half of this century. Development banks – national, regional, international and multilateral – represent some of the largest providers of public finance for sustainable development. Together, they can facilitate and accelerate the implementation of the Paris Agreement, continuously raising their ambitions.

Members of the International Development Finance Club (IDFC) and the Multilateral Development Banks (MDBs) play a fundamental role in directing capital towards sustainable investments by demonstrating the opportunities and potential returns, and by reducing the risks associated with them. At the same time, IDFC members and MDBs can actively contribute to mainstreaming the sustainable development and climate agendas across all sectors, in accordance with their mandates. Their total annual climate finance commitments have increased over the last few years, and continue on an upward trend.

Members of the IDFC and MDBs are increasing their climate financing in mitigation and adaptation. They also continue to: mobilise external investments for climate actions; jointly lead on the transparent tracking and reporting of climate finance flows and impacts; support the implementation of the Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs); and facilitate activities that transition development to low-carbon and climate-resilient pathways.

On Tuesday, December 12, 2017 One Planet Summit organised in Paris, building on their proven capacity and combining the power of DFIs worldwide and at all levels, IDFC and MDBs commit to deepen their collaboration, with each other and with other interested entities, in order to:

• Further embed climate change considerations within their strategies and activities, and promote the mainstreaming of climate action throughout the financial community, inspired by the five voluntary Principles for Mainstreaming Climate Action within Financial Institutions. Specific attention will be devoted to managing climate risk and to the integration of climate resilience and adaptation.
• Redirect financial flows in support of transitions towards low-carbon and climate resilient sustainable development. Building on what is already being done, this will increase the overall amount or share of finance that goes towards climate action.
• Catalyse investments to address new economic, social and environmental challenges and opportunities related to climate change, in particular by using their capital to mobilise additional private capital and to blend their financing most effectively with other sources to drive climate action and results.
• Pursue the development of processes, tools, methodologies and institutional arrangements that make it possible to design and implement climate action at the required scale. This includes reinforcing the collaborative effort between DFIs to improve the quality, robustness and consistency of climate finance tracking and reporting through the sharing of best practices and knowledge and by increasing the transparency and accessibility of their climate finance data. It also involves the development of a common framework for tracking progress towards achieving resilience, to be shared by COP24.
• Collaborate with national and sub-national governments in promoting the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, including through developing sustainable alternatives to fossil fuel investments, based on national circumstances and contexts, and prioritising the financing of these alternatives. This should involve the implementation of instruments or measures to shift investments to sustainable asset classes, such as: the use of a shadow price of carbon; reporting of greenhouse gas emissions; assessments to avoid the potential for stranded assets; employing measures to avoid deforestation and encourage improved land use; or putting in place more explicit policies to significantly reduce reliance on fossil fuels and rapidly accelerate financing for renewables.
• Support the development of enabling policy and regulatory environments, at both national and sub-national levels, in conjunction with the private sector and civil society, while remaining focused on the most vulnerable populations. IDFC members and MDBs will continue to deepen this work and increase country-level coordination between institutions. As per their respective mandates, IDFC members and MDBs will continue to contribute to policy dialogues, develop technical capacities of clients, and strengthen institutions to enable the translation of NDCs into policies, investment plans and financeable programmes and projects, as well as into incentives for the business community.
• Further support countries and partners to accelerate climate action and ambition by 2020, including the development of long-term 2050 decarbonisation pathways and strategies to reach zero net emissions and promote shorter-term actions that provide the building blocks for achieving these longer-term development pathways.

Poverty eradication and sustainable development goals cannot be met unless there is a collective push to address climate change at the same time. To accelerate impact, it is particularly important for all development partners to come together, move forward on their enhanced commitments, and raise the internal and external ambition on climate.

As public actors with long-term mandates, DFIs have a responsibility to contribute to the collective governance and action needed to fight climate change. Turning the Paris Agreement into concrete action requires new cooperative approaches. In this spirit of collaboration, the IDFC members and MDBs are teaming up, two years on from the historic moment at COP21, to reaffirm their joint commitment to align their financial flows with the Paris Agreement.