AIIB - Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank

11/10/2022 | News release | Distributed by Public on 11/09/2022 22:56

COP27, the First 3 Days: Reflections from AIIB’s Climate Team

The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank's (AIIB) delegation to COP27 consists of senior leadership, led by President Jin Liqun, and representatives from different departments including Investment Operations, Economics, Communications, Policy and Strategy, Office of the Secretariat and Operational Services.

Addressing climate change is a multidisciplinary activity and working together with a spirit of collective action is critical. Our team has proven this collective spirit in the work we are doing at Sharm El Sheikh. AIIB is focused on three key messages at COP27, around which our activities are focused and with specific initiatives to which we are signing up or supporting.

At COP27, the AIIB team is imparting the message that we:

  • mobilize climate finance for Asia and beyond by unlocking the capital to finance and stimulate innovation, thus driving climate-smart solutions where they are most needed.
  • believe that innovative climate technology is one of the solutions. AIIB accelerates investment and partnerships with new & emerging technology solutions for both climate adaptation and mitigation.
  • prioritize adaptation to build resilience in developing countries. AIIB leverages its network and resources to enable its Members to adopt and increase resilience to climate change. We bolster these through our initiatives at COP27, namely through our announcements that we are planning to issue our first resilience bond in 2023, that we are considering the use of climate-resilient debt clauses in our lending operations and that, along with other multilateral development banks (MDBs), we will expand support for countries that seek climate-resilient sustainable transition.

We have also signed cooperation agreements with the IRENA/ETAF Facility and GEAPP, Egypt's country platform for the NWFE Programme-Energy Pillar. We are formally joining the Coalition on Climate Resilient Investments and we are supporting the Green Hydrogen statement.

The first three days were spent preparing for the main event, but so far we have had several bilateral meetings with heads of MDBs and other funding institutions. We will continue to do so in the coming days. These include the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), the European Investment Bank (EIB), the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB) and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). The list goes on to help operationalize our corporate strategy on green Infrastructure for Tomorrow, including technology-enabled infrastructure, connectivity and private capital mobilization.

AIIB President Jin Liqun meeting EBRD President Odile Renaud-Basso and IsDB President Dr. Muhammad Sulaiman Al Jasser.

There are three main AIIB-led events: The flagship finance event, a technology event on Nov. 11, and an adaptation event on Nov. 14.

AIIB's high-level event engagements include:

Nov. 8:

Nov. 9:

  • Asian Infrastructure Finance (AIF) report launch event at 9 a.m.
  • Egyptian presidency thematic panel-AIIB President Jin Liqun, "Role of MDBs, Commercial Banks and Philanthropies in Climate Finance"
  • Joint Paris Alignment Progress Update among the MDBs--Panel, AIIB Vice President for Policy and Strategy, Sir Danny Alexander.
  • WEF "Financing the Net-Zero Transition" panel, Erik Berglof, AIIB Chief Economist.
  • Egyptian presidency thematic panel-AIIB President Jin Liqun, "Mobilizing Finance for Climate-Smart Connectivity Infrastructure" MCDF/Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Egypt

Located in the Blue Zone, Area C, Location P58, the Joint MDB pavilion is where AIIB is hosting its events and bilateral meetings. Many of our partner MDBs are there, including IsDB next door to AIIB. AfDB is in Area B. The conference room areas and the computer centers are in Area D.

There is a large plenary where the opening of the UNFCCC official negotiations happened on Nov. 6 and the World Leaders Summit opening happened Nov. 7 which President Liqun Jin, Sir Danny Alexander and Konstantin Limitovskiy and other AIIB colleagues attended. And then there is the VVIP lounge area through which President Liqun Jin accessed the High Level Roundtable on Investing in the Future of Energy: Green Hydrogen on Nov. 8. There will be many world leaders in a closed-door, relatively smaller room setting. The focus will be to engage collectively for mobilizing finance in the right areas and for common global standards for Green Hydrogen.

(L-R) AIIB Vice President, Investment Operations (Region 2) Konstantin Limitovskiy and AIIB Vice President, Policy and Strategy Sir Danny Alexander.

Members of AIIB's delegation at COP27 in the Joint MDB Pavilion.