UAE pledges $200 mn to vulnerable countries to fight clim. change

The announcement, which came during the World Climate Action Summit (WCAS), follows up from a previous pledge of $200 million to support development in low-income countries earlier this year in Marrakech.

The commitment comes in the form of Special Drawing Rights (SDRs), pledged to IMF’s Resilience and Sustainability Trust (RST). The RST is a trust held by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and provides long-term concessional funding for climate resilience and pandemic preparedness. The RST supports climate resilience in low- and middle-income economies and countries vulnerable to the impacts of climate change.

Dr. Sultan bin Ahmed Al Jaber, Minister of Industry and Advanced Technology and COP28 President, said, “The UAE is delighted to announce our SDR commitment to the IMF Resilience and Sustainability Trust (RST). We are committed to supporting those countries and communities who have often contributed the least to climate change but are impacted the most.”

Mohamed Hadi Al Hussaini, Minister of State for Financial Affairs, said, “The UAE’s allocation of funds to the Resilience and Sustainability Trust is a testament to our commitment to advancing sustainable finance efforts and supporting countries most affected by climate change. The Ministry of Finance in the UAE prioritises identifying climate financing gaps, assessing the impact of climate change mitigation policies on capital flows, and recognising the macroeconomic risks resulting from climate change. We work closely with our partners from international financial organisations, such as the IMF, to enhance multilateral coordination in sustainable finance action.”

SDRs are a stable asset, pegged against a basket of five currencies – the US Dollar, the Euro, The Chinese Reminbi, the Japanese Yen, and The British Pound Sterling - which IMF members can exchange for a freely usable currency when needed. The RST was established in 2022 as a response to the need to support low and middle -income economies and vulnerable countries as they confront longer-term climate change risks.

Concessional financing represents loans that are on more favourable terms than the borrower could obtain in the debt markets. This either relates to terms where the loan has low (below market rate) interest rates, or the recipient is granted a grace period or deferred repayment of the loan.

Approximately three-quarters of the IMF’s country membership is eligible for RST financing, including low-income members as well as middle-income countries and small island developing states (SIDS).

Currently, the RST has received over $40 billion to SDR pledges and 11 countries have been approved as recipients so far.