Surveying climate change through the GRID

THE WORLD BANK GROUP’s (WBGs) NEW FIVE-YEAR CLIMATE CHANGE ACTION
PLAN through the GRID (Green, Resilient, and Inclusive Development) framework will pursue
poverty eradication and shared prosperity between the 2021–2025-time span.
The WBG said the new five-year compact is “a shift from efforts to “green” projects, to greening
entire economies, and from focusing on inputs, to focusing on impacts.”
Key aspects of the five-point GRID plan include providing opportunities for poor and vulnerable
populations in the recovery from COVID-19; recognising the interrelationships between poverty and
inequality to help achieve sustainability and accelerating and scaling up interventions and investments
“to match the urgency of these crises, including by addressing countries’ fiscal constraints.”
“We will support countries and private sector clients to maximize the impact of climate finance,
aiming for measurable improvements in adaptation and resilience and measurable reductions in GHG
(greenhouse gas) emissions. The Action Plan also considers the vital importance of natural capital,
biodiversity, and ecosystems services and will increase support for nature-based solutions, given their
importance for both mitigation and adaptation,” the financial body explained.
Over the next five years, the new CCAP envisages integrating climate and development; identifying
and prioritising action on the largest mitigation and adaptation opportunities; and “using those to drive
our climate finance and leverage private capital in ways that deliver the most results.”
Major emitters of GHGs will be assisted to flatten and accelerate the downward trend of their toxic
discharges in the atmosphere while the WBG will pursue bolster financing on adaptation “to help
countries and private sector clients prepare for and adapt to climate change while pursuing broader
development objectives through the GRID approach,” an electronic WBG document explained.
It said over the next half decade, the deal will be guided by three key principles across all sectors:
Firstly, it will ensure people are at the centre of the shift to a low-carbon and resilient future. “A
people-centered approach is essential for the political feasibility of climate action and to ensure that
gains and losses from the transition to a low-carbon, resilient economy are shared equitably,” the
document explained.
It foresees mainstreaming gender into its operations and “will increase support for social protection
programs including job training, retraining, and education that help people adapt to climate change.”

Secondly, under the accord, natural capital is viewed as essential to combating climate change since
both ecosystems and human health are affected by the phenomenon.
The WBG document said because economising on natural capital, including biodiversity and
ecosystem services, can boost mitigation and adaptation, it plans “scaling up investments in emerging
markets to strengthen and expand the waste value chain (for) a sustainable circular economy,” over
the next five years.
Thirdly, the plan foresees partnership as a vital plank for success of the deal. So, it will collaborate
with the IIMF, development banks, other international bodies, monetary and financial institutions,
“including central banks, institutional investors, the private sector, think tanks, and civil society
organizations to complement our work.”
“Integrated, longer-horizon GRID planning will aim to repair the structural damage caused by
the crisis and accelerate climate action while restoring momentum on economic development,
poverty reduction, and shared prosperity,” the WBG document said.