Climate Change Catastrophe: From Economics to Threat to World Peace

Illustration (Photo: Doc. Ministry of Finance)

JAKARTA – The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is known to be increasingly concerned about the issue of climate change. In a joint statement with the World Bank this week, the IMF said that the impact of this global issue was very broad.

"Climate change is a threat to peace, security, economic stability and global development," said IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva, quoted on Sunday, September 10.

Kristalina explained, to overcome this challenge our institutions need to help all member countries integrate their climate and development goals.

"Given the important nature of this work stream, we will place Bank-Fund collaboration in this area on a more structured and institutionalized basis," she said.

Kristalina added that her party and the World Bank will complement each other in work related to climate change. This is because the World Bank's updated core mandate places climate factors explicitly as one of the core areas of efforts to build sustainable multi-year engagement.

“Based on the Climate Change Action Plan, Climate and Development Country Reports (CCDR), and extensive country-level policy efforts, we provide policy advice on climate issues to member countries, support policy reform through financing development policies and provide financing for special investment at the sectoral level through investment and loan programs for results," she explained.

Meanwhile, the IMF is said to have adopted a new climate strategy that includes coverage of macro-critical climate issues as part of its Article IV consultations and expands technical assistance in areas where it has special expertise.

Kristalina said that the two institutions had formed a Bank-Fund Climate Advisory Group which was tasked with ensuring coordination of work flows related to climate change. The group will meet every two months to discuss engagement at global and country levels, including the results of climate analysis at country level, and the pipeline of key projects and policy-based lending (World Bank DPL and RST Fund engagement).

"We will also include climate considerations in our ongoing efforts regarding debt sustainability, including through a revision of the Debt Sustainability Framework for Low-Income Countries," concluded Kristalina.