Deputy Secretary-General Urges Donors, Banks to Align Finance with Long-term Sustainable Development Objectives, in Message for Asia Pacific Forum

Following is the text of UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed’s video message to the Asia Pacific Forum on “catalysing climate finance and investment flows to ramp up climate action and advance the Sustainable Development Goals”, in Bangkok today:

Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen, COP27 [the twenty-seventh United Nations Climate Change Conference] in Egypt must be a meeting of implementation.  It must deliver concrete results for developing countries in the Asia Pacific region and elsewhere to mitigate the climate crisis and achieve the SDGs [Sustainable Development Goals].

The time for action is now.  That is why this regional round table and others being held are so important.

Today, I want to highlight three priorities for progress on some of the climate initiatives presented during this forum.

First, we must ensure a just energy transition.  As the world’s largest producer and consumer of coal, Asia and the Pacific need a rapid and just transition to renewable energy.  This makes not just environmental sense.  It can also create millions of new, decent jobs and deliver new opportunities, especially for women and youth.

Simultaneous efforts to support people during this transition — including through the creation of shock-responsive social protection systems — are critical to this process of transition.

Each nation’s transition will be based on its own unique national circumstances.  But all must be aligned with the 1.5°C goal of the Paris Agreement.  This requires significant support from donors, multilateral development banks and private financiers, including by aligning all forms of finance with long-term sustainable development objectives.

Second, we must keep our promises on mitigation, adaptation and finance.  This means updating all NDCs [nationally determined contributions] every year until they are fully aligned with the Paris Agreement’s goals.  Developed countries must demonstrate how they will meet their commitment to deliver $100 billion annually for climate adaptation and mitigation in developing countries and collectively double adaptation finance by 2025.

This also means developing specific targets and timelines, which will be the litmus test for the $100 billion benchmark.  It also means doubling adaptation pledges.

We must deploy all available tools to make emergency liquidity and funding available on appropriate terms to address the impending climate crisis.  This includes going beyond GDP [gross domestic product] to determine access to finance and expanding eligibility to climate-vulnerable middle-income countries.

Multilateral development banks must play their part.  They must overhaul their models and increase their risk appetite to mobilize the trillions from the private sector that will be needed to fund the transition to renewable and resilient economies.

Additionally, while thematic bonds — like green bonds, social bonds, sustainability or climate bonds — have increased more than 10 times in value between 2015 and 2020, these still represent a small fraction of the potential of capital markets to be an ally in the fight against climate change.

We’re just scratching the surface.  Scaling up debt swaps, including debt for climate and biodiversity swaps, and integrating Barbados-style disaster clauses into debt contracts can also help to alleviate mounting debts in many countries — including Pacific SIDS [small island developing States] and LDCs [least developed countries] — while channelling funds into green projects.

Third, the private sector will play a key role in determining whether we succeed or fail.  Many companies have made “net-zero-by-2050” pledges.  It’s time to demonstrate very concretely their commitment and their credibility.  Investments in infrastructure like energy grids will need to triple by 2030 to meet net-zero emissions goals.  And we need action to make green public transportation a reality in communities worldwide.

We also need to pay increased attention to loss and damage related to climate events, particularly as those least responsible for our warming planet continue to shoulder the biggest burden.

Every step of the way, we need to involve the private sector in developing the infrastructure of tomorrow — with resilience, inclusivity and sustainability at the core of our efforts.  Governments and the private sector must join forces to realize the full potential of innovative finance and ensure that funds being raised for green investments are truly directed to concrete and sustainable initiatives.

Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen, the time is now to act with urgency and scale.  Now is the time to commit and demonstrate the power of concerted action.

I thank you.