STATEMENT

Secretary-General’s remarks at Climate Finance Ministerial Lunch, World Bank-IMF annual meetings

Lima, Peru, 9 October 2015

I thank the finance ministers of Peru and France for organizing this timely meeting.

Last month, world leaders adopted the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

Its aim is to eradicate extreme poverty in all its forms, improve human well-being and protect the health of the planet.

In December, in Paris, your governments will meet to finalize what could be an historic climate change agreement.

The 2030 Agenda and a new, universal climate accord in Paris will be important for creating a low-carbon, climate-resilient future that benefits all.

Finance is central to realizing this transformation.

It is also key for building the trust between developing and developed countries that is needed for success in Paris.

The stakes are high.

Previous climate finance pledges must be met.

The first step must be a politically credible trajectory for mobilizing $100 billion dollars per annum by 2020.

The methodology for deciding what is climate finance, and how private finance is counted, needs to be developed by all concerned – developed and developing countries alike.

I thank Mr. Angel Gurria for the OECD’s new report, which provides an update as of the end of 2014 on progress by developed countries in meeting the $100 billion dollars goal.

It is important for transparency.

But it shows that we must go further.

The 2030 Agenda and a new, universal climate accord in Paris will be important for creating a low-carbon, climate-resilient future that benefits all.

Developed countries need to mobilize new climate finance resources beyond their Official Development Assistance and above what is already on the table.

Mobilization is about more than accounting.

Recent pledges made by Germany, France and the United Kingdom to double their public climate finance commitments are an important step in the right direction.

I encourage other countries to make similar announcements before Paris.

They are essential for strengthening equity and global solidarity.

Trust can also be strengthened through innovative financing mechanisms that provide debt relief and new resources to strengthen the resilience of small island development states and least developed countries.

The G7’s Climate Risk Insurance initiative, the French Early Warning System and the African Renewable Energy and the African Adaptation Initiatives are notable examples that will help these countries manage climate risks and mobilize private capital.

Finally, let us enhance trust by ensuring the Green Climate Fund is fully up and running and approving projects in developing countries, in particular, the SIDS and LDCs, before COP21.

I look forward to this meeting producing an overall progress report on climate finance, supported by both developed and developing countries alike.

It could then serve as the comprehensive baseline on which further work will need to take place between now and the Paris COP.

Paris must signal that a low-carbon transformation of the global economy is inevitable, beneficial and already under way.

It must provide a comprehensive, long-term vision of the opportunities created by low-emission, climate resilient development.

And it must provide a durable framework that will spur the private sector to make major, long-term investments in a low-carbon future.

You can accelerate this transformation by designing policies that encourage the private sector to forgo short-term thinking and invest in low-carbon, resilient growth.

Business and private finance are already beginning to respond to the climate challenge.

My Climate Change Support Team has produced an assessment on the role of the private sector in supporting the transformation of the global economy toward low-carbon, climate resilient development.

It finds there is growing consensus on the need for a real carbon price and phasing out fossil fuel subsidies.

Low-carbon investments are growing, but remain insufficient for limiting temperature rise to below 2 degrees Celsius.

Adaptation needs are increasing, but are badly under-resourced.

To meet these challenges, we need bold leadership from Finance Ministers, from business leaders and investors, and from international financial institutions that include the voices of developing countries.

This is the year to set the world on course for a more prosperous, sustainable future

I look forward to continuing to work with you.

Together we can — and must — realize the promise of our new sustainable development agenda.

Thank you.