TBILISI, Georgia, May 6. Middle-income countries need full involvement in green transition, Special Advisor on Climate Change to the President of the Inter-American Development Bank Avinash Persaud said during panel discussions on the topic "Achieving Climate Outcomes for Transformation" within the ADB (Asian Development Bank) annual meeting in Tbilisi on May 4, Trend reports.
According to him, most of the countries are ADB members.
"The countries see the highest growth in future energy needs, and there some of the poorest and most vulnerable people live," he pointed out, reminding that 70 percent of the world's poor population resides in countries with medium-income levels.
Therefore, we need global efforts. In terms of scale, one of the significant achievements we have made in the past couple of years has been reaching consensus on the scale issue, which sounds quite simple. It's really more complicated, especially dealing with economists. Getting economists to agree is a challenging task.
However, last year's G20 communiqué, COP communiqué, and Bridgestone initiative were all based on figures from an independent, high-level expert group, indicating that developing countries need $2.4 trillion per year in climate financing. One figure, a unified opinion on scale, and how important is that: if we had several figures from different sources, people would lose sight of what it is. $2.4 trillion, which is 12 times the total global aid budget," he added.
To note, the theme of the 57th ADB Annual Meeting in Tbilisi, which runs from May 2 through May 5, is "Bridge to the Future."
The annual meeting provides ADB governors with a platform to address developmental issues and challenges confronting the Asia-Pacific region. The event typically attracts several thousand participants, including finance ministers, central bank governors, senior government officials, private sector representatives, members of international and civil society organizations, youth, academics, and media personnel.
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