The World Bank Office in Liberia has acknowledged that climate change is a central pillar in Liberia’s ARREST Agenda for Inclusive Development, reflecting the nation’s prioritization of reducing greenhouse gas emissions and enhancing climate resilience.
The World Bank Country Manager for Liberia Making, Georgia Wallen making remarks at the official launch of the Climate Integration and Financing Office in Liberia at the Paynesville Town Hall, Liberia, committed that through the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning, this office, will help foster and catalyze needed partnership to implement those goals
She expressed that this is an important step in advancing Liberia’s integration of climate change into national development planning and in mobilizing resources for climate-resilient projects.
The World Bank Chief noted that the new Office will serve as a hub for fostering collaboration across government ministries, agencies, and development partners.
“It will help to foster a cohesive approach to combating climate change and promoting sustainable development in Liberia and emphasized that his office will help to ensure that every dollar for climate has maximum impact for the Liberian people and the environment,” she implored.
Wallen outlined three valuable contributions from the office as coordination; collaboration for investment and impact.
Highlighting the important role of coordination, she stated that climate change goals need strong links across sectors as well as policy updates and improvements in institutional and infrastructure provisions for climate change adaptation and mitigation.
She also recalled the flagship Liberia Country Climate and Development Report (CCDR) that was launched earlier this year which also identified the need for a policy framework that integrates climate finance, risk and coordination as a priority noting that yesterday’s launch is a vital step in towards making an integrated, government-led approach a reality.
Therefore, she stated that this office has potential to lay the groundwork for developing the architecture for a comprehensive climate finance framework that enables transparent and efficient receipt and allocation of climate funds
Wallen explained that the assessment by Climate Policy Initiative reported that the annual climate finance flows in Liberia averaged US$112 million in 2019/20, most in the form of grants and low-cost project debt.
Addressing the enormous investment needs, the World Bank boss said the MFDP notes the full implementation of Liberia’s mitigation and adaptation actions through 2025 which is estimated at US$491 million through 2025 alone.
She further said while concessional finance continues to play an important role in supporting Liberia’s climate actions in the short term, coordinated approaches to maximizing the impact of domestic resources will be essential.
“The investment challenge will also require building institutional capacity across the government and developing innovative approaches to unlock private finance, including from the carbon market, for adaptation, resilience, and infrastructure projects,” she projected.
Wallen said mainstreaming and institutionalizing climate budgets and planning is an important foundation for countries to assess their contribution to climate finance, identify opportunities to harness financing innovation and assessing their gaps.
She noted that the World Bank’s experience with building budgeting capacity, training and planning in multiple countries such as Uganda, Ethiopia, Sierra Leone, and Nigeria provide good practice and lessons to approach to this for Liberia.
Meanwhile, she expressed that the World Bank played a key role in the development of this mechanism by providing technical guidance and stakeholders’ training while applauding the strong ownership demonstrated by the government in driving the agenda.
