The IMF is sharing a pavilion at COP29 this year with the World Bank Group and the Financial Times to create opportunities for dialogue and knowledge sharing. The IMF will continue to promote economic and financial sector policies that can help our members and the wider international community reach shared climate goals such as reducing emissions, increasing climate finance, boosting resilience, and easing the transition to low-carbon economies.
10:00 AM - 10:45 AM (GMT+4)
Urgent action to cut greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions is needed now. Early next year, all countries will set new emissions targets for 2035 while revising their 2030 targets. Substantial gaps in global ambition and implementation still remain, with current levels of Nationally Determined Contributions only reducing global emissions by one quarter of what’s needed. Further delay will lead to an “emissions cliff edge,” implying implausible cuts in GHGs after 2030 and putting the target of 1.5°C beyond reach. This session assesses the question: Is the world on track to net zero? Building on updated IMF research, it will explore how to equitably close the global gap in climate ambition to achieve the Paris Agreement goals.
Essential reading
3:00 PM - 3:45 PM (GMT+4)
Delivering on global climate goals requires a shift to renewable energy and other green technologies. The main challenge for developing economies is securing funding for this transition. With limited fiscal space and low financial development, foreign direct investment (FDI) and official lending are crucial. Based on recent IMF staff publications, a high-level panel will discuss market reforms and financial sector policies to attract official financing, the impact of climate policies on FDI in low-carbon technologies, and the conditions needed to attract it. Panelists will also explore how domestic policies can enhance government revenue to support renewable energy. Additionally, they will consider how Just Energy Transition Partnerships, public-private partnerships, blended finance structures, and international cooperation can catalyze financing for renewable energy investments.
Essential reading
4:00 PM - 4:45 PM (GMT+4)
The need to decarbonize international transportation has long been overlooked. Aviation and shipping account for a rapidly growing share of global carbon dioxide emissions. This session will explore global mitigation policies for the sectors, notably a carbon tax and other pricing instruments like feebates, which could kick-start the sectors’ transitions towards net zero while generating substantial revenue for climate finance. The event, based on IMF’s recent analysis, will address practical policy options, their implementation, and the allocation of revenues from pricing to drive meaningful change in these hard-to-abate sectors.
Essential reading
9:00 AM - 9:45 AM (GMT+4)
The IMF’s Resilience and Sustainability Trust was established in 2022 to help low-income and vulnerable middle-income member countries build resilience to external shocks. Its lending facility, the Resilience and Sustainability Facility (RSF), provides countries affordable longer-term financing to address enduring structural challenges, including from climate change and pandemics. To date, the Fund has approved 20 arrangements with total commitments of more than $9.5 billion. While most arrangements are still less than a year old, an early assessment of the RSF indicates a positive impact on the progression of reforms. In this event, panelists will discuss how specific countries benefited from the RSF and the lessons learned in the process, and will talk in more detail about policy reforms on climate adaptation and mitigation that are already bearing fruit.
4:00 PM - 4:45 PM (GMT+4)
Managing the impact of climate change demands significant investment in climate resilience, especially in emerging markets and developing economies (EMDEs), which are disproportionately affected despite contributing the least to the problem. It is estimated that adaptation finance flows to these countries will need to significantly increase at a time when they already face the challenge of mobilizing funds for their development needs. Despite increasing awareness of the urgent need for adaptation action, financial resources to implement remain inadequate. In this session, the panelists will discuss how to enhance partnerships and cooperation to scale up adaptation financing for EMDEs and explore the role various stakeholders—including public institutions, private sector, and civil society—in attracting private capital for adaptation investments.
10:00 AM - 10:45 AM (GMT+4)
As extreme weather events like floods, droughts, wildfires, and heatwaves become more frequent and severe and as transition risks associated with shifting to a low-carbon economy increase, it is crucial to understand their impact on people, infrastructure, financial markets, and economies. To create effective climate policies, we need timely and thorough risk assessments that look ahead. This joint session with the World Bank will focus on global efforts to build an internationally accepted framework for measuring both physical and transition risks of climate change. Panelists will discuss how these risk indicators can help assess countries' vulnerabilities and guide the development of stronger, more resilient policies and adaptation strategies.
Easing the burden on lower-income households is not only socially fair, but also economically efficient
New books offer fresh perspectives on climate, China, and John Maynard Keynes
Data Gaps Initiative helps policymakers better understand the environmental impact of economic activities and the effectiveness of climate policies
The funding needs of emerging market and developing economies’ (EMDE) for climate action are immense. Innovative financing solutions and scaling up private capital are vital to close the funding gap and achieve EMDE climate objectives.
The Resilience and Sustainability Fund (RSF) helps countries to address climate change challenges. Evidence from Costa Rica and Kenya will feature how the RSF can enhance climate resilience along with the World Bank and other partners.
Urgent and aggressive action to cut greenhouse gas emissions this decade is needed. Global ambition needs to be more than quadrupled: emissions cuts of 50 percent below 2019 levels by 2030 are needed for 1.5 degrees Celsius.
Climate Change Indicators Dashboard
The IMF's Climate Change Indicators Dashboard provides a platform for disseminating climate change data for macroeconomic and financial stability analysis. The dashboard helps users assess the linkage between economic and financial activities and government policies on the one hand, and climate change (and environment more broadly) on the other—either on a country-level or cross-country basis—by analyzing a standardized set of comparable data.
