13 October 2014: The 2014 Annual Meetings of the World Bank Group (WBG) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) tackled some of the most pressing issues and risks facing the world today, such as the Ebola epidemic, unrest in the Middle East, climate change and lack of money for critical infrastructure.

The meetings, which convened from 10-12 October 2014, in Washington DC, US, included sessions on, inter alia: financing development post-2015; achieving food security in the face of climate change; rising to the renewable energy challenge; fighting poverty; global value chains and development; financing development in fragile and conflict-affected States; and the future of finance.

A high-level climate ministerial meeting on climate change, which is held each year, took place on 10 October. The event brought private sector leaders into the discussions for the first time to engage on issues related to the climate challenges countries are facing and policies that can help solve them. World Bank Group President Jim Yong Kim, who led the ministerial, stressed that involving the private sector reflects the growing recognition that the “public sector alone cannot solve the climate challenge.” In addition, the private sector, which currently contributes more than half of all climate finance, has both the financial wherewithal to scale up renewable energy use and the influence to clean up emissions sources.

Private sector representatives expressed their understanding of the risks that climate change poses to business supply chains and assets, as well as the opportunities that climate action creates for competitive growth and innovation. Kim underscored that some investors are “decarbonizing” their portfolios and moving toward green investments to become more competitive. He also recalled that, in the lead up the recent UN Climate Summit, 74 governments, which account for up to 54% of the world’s carbon emissions, supported a carbon price, as did over 1,000 companies and investors. More than 150 companies are already using an internal price on emissions.

The session on achieving food security in the face of climate change heard from a high-level expert panel on how to move toward climate-smart agriculture, integrated landscapes and seascapes, and more sustainable supply chains. The session was based on the premise that governments, the private sector, civil society and other stakeholders must create innovative solutions and scale up actions to achieve food security in a resource-efficient manner that is resilient to climate change.

In a statement to the International Monetary and Financial Committee meeting on 11 October, Helen Clark, UN Development Programme (UNDP) Administrator, called for an inclusive, sustainable and growing global economy to accelerate progress on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). She stressed the need for: more and better jobs, including youth employment and improvement of job quality and wages; and effective and representative global governance. She said the World Bank and IMF have important roles to play in the post-2015 development agenda and in the preparations for the Financing for Development (FfD) Conference in July 2015.

In addition, the Development Committee, which is a WBG/IMF ministerial-level forum for intergovernmental consensus building on development issues comprised of 25 ministers of finance or development, met on 11 October. The forum resulted in a Communiqué that lauds the implementation of new processes and measures designed to tackle the WBG’s twin goals of reducing extreme poverty to 3% by 2030, and boosting the incomes of the bottom 40% in countries where the WBG works. The Committee also called on the WBG and IMF to support the delivery of efficient, reliable, affordable and sustainable energy, including through the Sustainable Energy for All Initiative (SE4ALL).

At the beginning of the meetings, President Kim announced a new Global Infrastructure Facility to help close an estimated US$1 trillion annual financing gap in developing countries. The partnership, which includes large private funds, multilateral development institutions and donor countries is expected to help unlock billions of dollars for infrastructure development.

The next Spring WB/IMF meetings are scheduled for April 2015, in Washington, DC, US. [Annual Meetings Website] [WBG Press Release] [Climate Ministerial Press Release] [WBG President Remarks] [UNDP Administrator Statement] [Development Committee Communiqué] [Global Infrastructure Facility Press Release]