Our collective responses to climate change, poverty, and inequality are defining choices of our age. We must tackle them together to deliver on our twin goals of reducing poverty and boosting shared prosperity. The COVID-19 pandemic and economic crisis have been devastating, and as we support countries to respond to the ongoing crisis and build back, there is an urgent need to integrate climate and development strategies to deliver green, resilient, and inclusive development. There will be trade-offs when implementing an ambitious climate agenda, including transition costs, but these can be reduced through a people-centered approach, effective fiscal and social policies, and policies supportive of attracting private sector investment. The cost of not addressing climate change is already immense and will only get more expensive. The World Bank Group (WBG) recognizes that globally, the poor, who are the least responsible for greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, often suffer the most from climate change impacts. 

WBG client countries and private sector clients have powerful reasons to fight climate change. Not only are many of them highly vulnerable to climate impacts, which threaten their ongoing development and the well-being of their people, but as the global economy moves toward a net-zero future, they need to stay competitive. A well-managed transition can ensure that climate action brings more and better jobs and reduces poverty. Accelerating economic transformation is the best way to boost employment sustainably. The WBG will work with both the public and private sectors to support the climate agenda. For example, public sector interventions can help countries implement policy and regulatory reforms and create incentives to crowd-in private sector participants and to catalyze private sector investment, using our menu of advisory and financial instruments.