World Bank Liberia Country Manager Remarks at Official launch of the Climate Integration and Financing Office
Opening Remarks by Georgia – World Bank Country Manager for Liberia
Official launch of the Climate Integration and Financing Office
Monday, November 25, 2024 | Paynesville Town Hall, Liberia
Ladies and Gentlemen, Congratulations – thanks for the opportunity to join today’s launch of the Climate Integration and Financing Office. This is an important step in advancing Liberia’s integration of climate change into national development planning and in mobilizing resources for climate-resilient projects. The new Office will serve as a hub for fostering collaboration across government ministries, agencies, and development partners. It will help to foster a cohesive approach to combating climate change and promoting sustainable development in Liberia. As Honorable Madam Brunson mentioned, this office will help to ensure that “every dollar for climate has maximum impact for the Liberian people and the environment.”
As you look to the future of the CIFO, I’d like to highlight three valuable contributions from this office: (i) coordination; (ii) collaboration for investment; and (iii) impact.
First, the important role of coordination. Liberia’s climate goals already emphasize the need for strong links across sectors as well as policy updates and improvements in institutional and infrastructure provisions for climate change adaptation and mitigation. The flagship Liberia Country Climate and Development Report (CCDR) – launched earlier this year – also identified the need for a policy framework that integrates climate finance, risk and coordination as a priority. Today’s launch is a vital step in towards making an integrated, Government-led approach a reality. This office has potential to lay the groundwork for developing the architecture for a comprehensive climate finance framework that enables transparent and efficient receipt and allocation of climate funds.
Second, collaboration to achieve scaled investment. According to the assessment by Climate Policy Initiative, annual climate finance flows in Liberia averaged US$112 million in 2019/20, most in the form of grants and low-cost project debt. But the investment needs are enormous: as MFDP has noted, full implementation of Liberia’s mitigation and adaptation actions through 2025 has an estimated cost of US$491 million through 2025 alone. While concessional finance will continue to play an important role in supporting Liberia’s climate actions in the short term, coordinated approaches to maximizing the impact of domestic resources will be essential. The investment challenge will also require building institutional capacity across the government and developing innovative approaches to unlock private finance, including from the carbon market, for adaptation, resilience, and infrastructure projects.
Third, impact – learning from global experience. Mainstreaming and institutionalizing climate budgets and planning is an important foundation for countries to assess their contribution to climate finance, identify opportunities to harness financing innovation and assessing their gaps. The World Bank’s experience with building budgeting capacity, training and planning in multiple countries such as Uganda, Ethiopia, Sierra Leone, and Nigeria provide good practice and lessons to approach to this for Liberia. In Uganda for example, the government introduced climate budget tagging, a system that helps identify and track climate-related expenditures in the national budget with World Bank support through the NDC partnership facility. This process enabled the prioritization of climate-responsive actions, ensuring that resources are allocated to areas with the highest climate impact and aligning expenditures with Uganda’s NDCs. The World Bank played a key role in the development of this mechanism by providing technical guidance and stakeholder training.
In closing, we note that climate change is a central pillar in Liberia’s ARREST Agenda for Inclusive Development, reflecting the nation’s prioritization of reducing greenhouse gas emissions and enhancing climate resilience. The MFDP, through this office, will help foster and catalyze needed partnership to implement these goals.
We applaud the strong ownership demonstrated by the Government of Liberia driving this agenda. This leadership will undoubtedly position Liberia as a frontrunner in aligning climate action with development objectives.
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