Happy new year, dear readers. To start the year, I’ve asked a number of you to share one wish for development finance in 2023. Here’s what you’re hoping for:
• “Last year brought an unprecedented mandate from the United States and other major shareholders for a comprehensive overhaul of the World Bank mission, operations, and financing to deal with global public goods, particularly climate change. If one thing could happen in 2023, it would be for a stepwise capital increase at the World Bank to pay for this expanded mission. The recent report of the Independent High-Level Expert Group on Climate Finance estimates that the world needs to mobilize upwards of $2.4 trillion per year between now and 2030 in order to have a fighting chance at stabilizing the climate. Without a capital increase, the Bank would have to forgo some of its important health, education, gender, and industrialization efforts that are as crucial to the development process as is climate mitigation and adaptation.”
— Kevin P. Gallagher, director of the Boston University Global Development Policy Center
• “At a time when the rhetoric around mobilizing private capital for climate action has been mounting, our annual State of Blended Finance Report has found that blended finance flows towards climate have declined. It’s a startling finding. My development finance wish for 2023 is that we see concrete blended finance solutions take shape and real capital start to flow, and collectively make the leap from talk to action.”