Climate finance of biggest MDBs reaches US$35bn

Last year, the world's six largest multilateral development banks (MDBs) provided a total of US$35.2bn of climate finance for efforts related to mitigating or adapting to climate change. The figure represents a 20% increase from 2016 and the biggest amount in seven years, according to the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB).

All six banks – the IDB, the African Development Bank, the Asian Development Bank, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the European Investment Bank (EIB) and the World Bank Group – provided US$27.9bn, or 79% of total financing, to support mitigation efforts, while the remaining percentage, or US$7.4bn, was for climate adaptation projects.

According to the MDBs 2017 climate financing report, throughout last year Latin America and the Caribbean received US$7.1bn in relevant funds, 20% of the total the six lenders provided and the largest amount allocated to a single region.

Over US$5.5bn went to mitigation and US$1.7bn to adaptation efforts.

Most of the financing for adaptation in Latin America went to water related projects, such as irrigation and crops, water access and sanitation. Financing for mitigation efforts was directed mostly toward renewable energies and transport.

While not giving a regional breakdown, the MDBs stated that 81% (US$28.4bn) of climate finance was provided as investment loans.

The main lender for Latin America, the IDB, provided US$4.4bn in climate financing last year.

The full joint report can be found here.