In 2009, donor countries promised to mobilize $100 billion a year by 2020 to help

lower income countries with mitigation and adaptation. They only mustered $83
billion, $36.9 billion of which came from multilateral development banks and
climate funds, in 2020. Those unfulfilled promises haven’t gone unnoticed.
According to Ephraim Mwepya Shitima, chair of the African Group of Negotiators on
climate change, many developing countries, including those in Africa, have put
forth ambitious plans to curb emissions in the future, but have been “hampered by
the pledged financial support, which are falling short of expectations.”

A changing climate, a changing world

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Climate change around the world: In “Postcards From a World on Fire,” 193 stories
from individual countries show how climate change is reshaping reality everywhere,
from dying coral reefs in Fiji to disappearing oases in Morocco and far, far
beyond.

The role of our leaders: Writing at the end of 2020, Al Gore, the 45th vice
president of the United States, found reasons for optimism in the Biden presidency,
a feeling perhaps borne out by the passing of major climate legislation. That
doesn’t mean there haven’t been criticisms. For example, Charles Harvey and Kurt
House argue that subsidies for climate capture technology will ultimately be a
waste.

The worst climate risks, mapped: In this feature, select a country, and we'll break
down the climate hazards it faces. In the case of America, our maps, developed with
experts, show where extreme heat is causing the most deaths.

What people can do: Justin Gillis and Hal Harvey describe the types of local
activism that might be needed, while Saul Griffith points to how Australia shows
the way on rooftop solar. Meanwhile, small changes at the office might be one good
way to cut significant emissions, writes Carlos Gamarra.

Although Covid, inflation and the energy crisis related to the war in Ukraine have
strained government budgets everywhere, it would be shortsighted to ignore the
significance and potential of investing in climate financing. According to Devesh
Kapur, a professor at Johns Hopkins and co-author of a history of the World Bank,
raising an additional $100 billion in lending capacity for the World Bank could
require donors to put up about $20 billion in cash. The cost to the United States,
which holds 16 percent of shares, would be $3.2 billion, an amount that could be
paid out over five years.

Getting new money in the door is important, but it’s not enough. The bank also
should adopt new strategies and new rules that will allow it to funnel money more
quickly to where it is needed the most and will be used most effectively. For
instance, some small island states have per capita incomes that are too high for
concessional loans according to World Bank rules, despite their acute vulnerability
to climate change. Those rules should be revisited, in some cases, to make sure
that climate financing is prioritizing the areas that will make the biggest
difference.

The bank should also provide more grants and below-market financing related to
climate, as Senator Ed Markey of Massachusetts has called for. The World Bank and
multilateral development banks provided only 15 percent of their adaptation finance
and less than 5 percent of mitigation finance through grants — a fraction he called
“shockingly low.” By comparison, Green Climate Fund, a multilateral climate fund,
issued grants 41 percent of the time for adaptation and mitigation projects.