World Bank to increase climate financing for MENA region to $10bln by 2025: Official

World Bank to increase climate financing for MENA region to $10bln by 2025: Official

DUBAI - Meskerem Brhane, Regional Director for Sustainable Development, Middle East and North Africa for the World Bank, has affirmed the bank's plans to increase climate financing for the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region to $10 billion by 2025.

In statements to the Emirates News Agency (WAM) at COP28, Brhane said, "In the last three years, from 2021 to 2023 alone, the World Bank has provided US$6.3 billion in climate financing for MENA."

She added that the funding supports both reducing net emissions and resilience projects, helping countries prepare for and respond to future natural disasters. "Last year, we provided $800 million in climate-related financing to Morocco, Jordan and Lebanon."

Brhane stated that the World Bank had integrated climate into all its work across the MENA region and is on track to align 100 percent of new operations with the goals of the Paris Agreement.

She noted that the World Bank's MENA Climate Change Roadmap, which runs from 2021-2025, focuses on four key areas: food systems, water security, energy transition, and sustainable finance.

Regarding the UAE's hosting of COP28, she said, "By hosting this event, the UAE signals its leadership in climate change, its ability to work with other countries to tackle global