1946 Forum Breakfast Roundtable on Climate Finance & Development
CGP was pleased to host a breakfast meeting to celebrate the Earth Day theme to 'invest in our planet' for climate and development. Bim Afolami MP, Chair of the 1946 Forum, chaired the discussion with expert policymakers from leading climate and sustainability think tanks. We were also delighted to be joined by Mark Logan MP (Conservative) and Alex Sobel MP (Labour).
Boosting prosperity and climate reliance through finance is crucial to tackling global development challenges and to increasing climate ambition at COP28. Inspired by 2023’s Earth Day theme to ‘invest in our planet’, this breakfast meeting discussed how governments, international institutions and private capital can unlock finance for development and climate resilience. Participants explored the significance of leveraging private finance for adaptation and mitigation efforts to improve prosperity, the Bridgetown Agenda’s goal to transform the global financial system for developing countries, and the role and reform of international institutions such as multilateral development banks to unlock sustainable financial flows.
To meet the SDGs by 2030, the UN estimates that $3-$5trillion needs to be spent annually across the world. But for developing countries, challenges such as debt crises, climate change, and the rising cost of living puts further stress on their ability to unlock finance as they often struggle to access grants and loans, and may look towards China and other competitors for investment. Therefore this meeting also discussed how under new leadership, the World Bank can reform and clearly set out the humanitarian and geostrategic benefits of its work, and how COP28 can showcase the role of business in boosting finance.
