Mahmoud Mohieldin, UN Climate Change High-Level Champion for Egypt and UN Special Envoy on Financing 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda has called for new policies for concessional finance and the activation of mechanisms to de-risk financing and investment in climate action in developing countries.
Mohieldin made the remarks at a roundtable meeting on Mobilizing Private Climate Finance in Emerging Markets and Developing Countries (EMDCs), organized by the Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero (GFANZ), the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank Group (WBG), and the COP28 presidency.
The meeting was attended by a number of high-level participants, including Marc Carney, Co-chair of GFANZ; Kristalina Georgieva, IMF Managing Director; Sultan Al Jaber, COP28 President-Designate; Ajay Banga, President of the WBG; Janet Yellen, US Secretary of the Treasury; and Rania Al Mashat, Egypt Minister of International Cooperation.
Mohieldin stressed that scaling up climate finance in developing countries requires new policies for concessional finance that include low-interest rates and long-term repayment and grace periods. He also called for de-risking financing and investment by activating credit guarantee and credit enhancement mechanisms, improving the legislative and regulatory environment for business, reducing the debt of developing countries, activating foreign exchange guarantee mechanisms, and supporting local institutions and projects in developing countries.
Mohieldin noted that the High-Level Champions (HLCs) have launched a paper this week titled “Breaking Financing Barriers for Just Climate Transition in Africa,” which proposes specific measures to finance climate action on the continent and supports foreign exchange guarantee mechanisms.
He also highlighted the Five Regional Roundtables Initiative launched by the Egyptian presidency of COP27 in cooperation with the United Nations regional economic commissions and the HLCs, in which the UAE presidency of COP28 participates in its second edition. The initiative is aimed at finding investable, bankable, and implementable projects, and working on the flow of funds and investments for these projects.
Mohieldin said that the initiative has resulted in about 400 projects in different areas of climate action, and has been shortlisted into about 100 projects to be presented to potential financiers, which has resulted in the closing of 7 deals so far with work continuing to reach more deals before COP28 in Dubai.
During his participation in the meeting of the Sustainability Finance Integrity Advisory Council, Mohieldin stressed the importance of finance integrity and the commitment of public and private funding to standards that enhance its efficiency in implementing climate action and achieving sustainability.
He said that finance integrity plays a pivotal role in bridging the climate and development finance gap, especially with the continuous increase of financial entities that are transitioning to sustainable finance and the interest of investors in contributing to climate and development action. He explained that setting the standards governing the mechanisms of this finance reassures investors about the environmental and social impact of their investments.
