Representatives from governments, international financial institutions, development banks, philanthropic organizations, and private financial institutions committed to net zero, including Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) (Kristalina Georgieva), COP28 President-Designate (Dr. Sultan Al Jaber) and UN Special Envoy for Climate Action and Finance and Co-Chair of the Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero (GFANZ) (Mark Carney), gathered in a roundtable discussion hosted at the IMF’s premises in Washington DC to discuss actions needed to urgently accelerate climate action and finance.

In order to achieve massive global investments to reduce emissions and boost resilience, a major shift to harness public and, especially, private financing is needed. All countries need robust climate policies that accelerate the green transition, and stronger mechanisms to promote cooperation and risk-sharing among stakeholders. Participants identified areas of work within their respective mandates to be accelerated on the road to COP 28, including: making the investment environment more conducive to climate finance; identifying specific obstacles that impede private sector climate finance; proposing reforms to help strengthen countries’ macroeconomic and balance of payments stability by reducing risks associated with climate change; and using innovative financing instruments to scale up private investment in emerging and developing economies.

Ms. Georgieva, called for a step change in the financing approach to redirect trillions of dollars towards meeting the climate challenge. Moreover, she stated that stronger cooperation and partnerships across the public and private sector are vital.