CDC Group, the UK’s impact investor, has committed to accelerating investment in climate adaptation and resilience as CEO Nick O’Donohoe joins former UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon at the Finance in Common Summit.
Recognising that greater private and public cooperation is needed to accelerate this investment, alongside our shareholder the Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office, the Global Center on Adaptation and other development finance institutions, we have committed to work together on a range of initiatives in the lead-up to the Global Adaptation Summit in January 2021.
Finance in Common is the first global summit of the world’s 450 public development banks to discuss their role, their ambition, their challenges and opportunities. It also brings together the wider finance community in support of common action for climate and the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
To coincide with the summit, publicly-owned development banks have come together to commit to greater collaboration and action on key areas including boosting the private sector recovery in Africa through small and medium sized enterprises, and fostering a green and inclusive recovery.
For CDC, the commitments on climate build on existing ambitions set out in our Climate Change Strategy, launched earlier this year. The Strategy aligns our activities and investments with the goals of the Paris Agreement including investing for net zero by 2050, supporting a ‘just transition’ to a net zero economy, and strengthening adaptation and resilience of sectors, communities, businesses and people to the effects of climate change.
Ahead of the online event, the Association of European Development Finance Institutions reaffirmed the group’s commitment to the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals and the Paris Agreement. Bruno Wenn, Chair of EDFI said:
“Financial institutions have proven that they can be a catalyst for positive change. The need for our DFIs to act collectively and with strength has never been greater than at this moment when we need to ensure a sustainable and inclusive recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic. We want to set an example for other investors in developing countries – especially with regard to climate and inclusive finance.”
The Finance in Common Summit is a significant milestone on the way to the crucial events of 2021, notably COP26.
Notes
As part of the Finance in Common Summit, CDC has signed up to the following statements, in collaboration with other organisations:
