Daily Times

Paris, June 22 (AFP/APP):French President Emmanuel Macron opened a climate finance summit on Thursday by saying changes were needed to the global lending system to ensure that low-income countries “shouldn’t have to choose” between fighting climate change and poverty.

He said the current international lending system, underpinned by the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, has shown its value in previous decades but was “not completely suited” to the world’s current challenges. “We can make it work much better if this money and these liquidities were at the service of progress on the planet and tackling this double challenge that I mentioned: poverty and climate change, (and) biodiversity,” Macron said. A “public finance shock” was needed as well as massive private investment in green technology to help the world transition to a low-carbon economy, he added.

“Policymakers and countries shouldn’t ever have to choose between reducing poverty and protecting the planet,” he told an audience that included dozens of heads of state who have travelled to the French capital for two days of talks. Macron is hosting the meeting with Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley, who has become a leading advocate for reimagining the role of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund in an era of the climate crisis. Leaders present for the summit include Kenyan President William Ruto, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Chinese Premier Li Qiang and European Commission head Ursula von der Leyen. France has billed the two-day meeting as an opportunity to discuss ideas ahead of a cluster of major economic and climate meetings this year.