Tobias Adrian
International Roundtable for Scaling Up Climate Finance for Benin
I would like to warmly thank the authorities for hosting this kickoff meeting for scaling up climate finance for Benin. I would also like to thank the World Bank Group for co-convening and co-chairing this meeting with the government and the IMF.
The IMF, the World Bank Group, and development partners have supported climate-relevant policy reforms through budget support and through funding for relevant investment projects, across a diversity of sectors—primarily energy, transportation, and agriculture. Benin has been a front-runner on climate policy and finance in the region, both to build climate change resilience and to ensure low-carbon development. The agreement reached by Benin with the IMF in December last year, on a US$200 million Resilience and Sustainability Facility (RSF), aims to support the authorities in implementing their vision. This lending arrangement aims not only at supporting overall socio-economic resilience, but also at mainstreaming climate change in policymaking and addressing key structural challenges that expose Benin to climate shocks. It should help mitigate balance-of-payment risks and catalyze other sources of climate financing. The RSF has also contributed to creating momentum to implement recommendations from the Benin Country Climate and Development Report (CCDR) of the World Bank.
Benin has taken ambitious commitments for climate change adaptation and mitigation, outlined respectively in the National Adaptation Plan (NAP) and the Nationally Determined Contribution. Under the 2022 NAP, the authorities have committed to focus on agriculture, water, forestry, coastal erosion, health, tourism, and more broadly on reducing vulnerability across all key sectors. In Benin’s updated 2021 Nationally Determined Contribution, the focus is primarily on energy, agriculture, manufacturing, waste, land use and forestry. It reflects an increase in ambition to reduce emissions by 20.5 percent by 2030. The country has significant potential in developing solar energy, a sustainable food production export model, and a clean mobility strategy. Co-benefits from a low-carbon and resilient energy mix would mostly accrue in the telecoms, agriculture, water management, and transportation sectors, while increasing energy security and preventing future stranding of assets.
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