Development banks' climate funding hits record

Pledges put lenders on track to hit COP29 finance targets

LONDON:

Multilateral development banks committed a record $162.5 billion in climate financing last year, a report by the EU's lending arm showed on Monday, but targets for poorer nations could be at risk after the World Bank's decision last month to abandon key goals.

Annual figures on the combined amount of climate financing provided by 10 of the world's biggest development banks showed they supplied a record $162.5 billion in 2025, almost $103 billion of which went to developing economies.

The European Investment Bank, which published the report, said it indicated MDBs were "on track" to meet climate finance targets announced at the COP29 U.N. climate change summit in Baku in 2024.

At that meeting, the lenders committed to providing at least $120 billion in annual climate finance to low- and middle-income countries by 2030, alongside $50 billion a year for high-income economies.

"These results show that multilateral development banks are delivering at scale and accelerating support where it is most needed," EIB Vice-President Ambroise Fayolle said.

Observers, however, have questioned whether those key targets might be at risk following last month's decision by the World Bank to abandon its goal to devote 45% of its annual financing to projects related to climate change.