1st global summit for public banks’ role in green recovery

11 / 11 / 2020

By Marwa Nassar - -

The Finance in Common Summit is the first global summit of public development banks which is meant to discuss how to build new forms of prosperity in a resilient manner for better and greener recovery in the post-COVID 19 era.

The virtual summit – entitled Building Resilience for People and Planet – will be held on November 11-12 on the sidelines of the Paris Peace Forum.

In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent global socio-economic crisis, public development banks are called to take bold and decisive actions to protect millions of lives worldwide and lay the foundations for a fairer, more resilient future where short-term urgency can be reconciled with long-term objectives.

Based on their counter-cyclical responses to the pandemic, public development banks have a crucial role in implementing sustainable recovery measures that will have a long-term impact on the planet and societies. This requires a financial commitment of around $2.3 trillion, equivalent to 10 percent of the annual investment made by all the public and private actors in the world.

Under the high patronage of French President Emmanuel Macron and with the participation of UN Secretary-General António Guterres, the summit is an initiative of the World Federation of Development Finance Institutions and the International Development Finance Club. It is convened by the Agence française de développement with the support of several partner organizations, including the African Development Bank.

Some 450 public development banks are expected to participate and reinforce their cooperation through harmonized strategies, governance, investment patterns, activities and operating modalities to respond to the crisis while serving the realization of the UN Sustainable Development Goals and implementing the Paris Agreement’s objectives.

The Finance in Common Summit also aims to reconcile the entire finance community in support of the common action for climate and the SDGs by bringing together the development bank community and other key stakeholders, such as heads of state and representatives from governments, the private sector, civil society, think tanks and academia.