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COP16 secures USD 10 bn pledge: The Arab Coordination Group (ACG) pledged USD 10 bn to fight land degradation, desertification, and drought after the launch of the Riyadh Global Drought Resilience Partnership at the COP16 UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) summit in Riyadh, according to a press release (pdf). The commitment brings the total finance pledges at COP16 to USD 12 bn after the OPEC Fund and the Islamic Development Bank committed USD 1 bn each to the partnership on Monday. Saudi Arabia also announced investments of USD 150 mn for the initiative.
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What they said: “I hope this is just the beginning, and over the coming days and weeks, we see further contributions from international private and public sector partners,” Saudi Deputy Minister for Environment Dr Osama Faqeeha said in the statement.
Who are ACG? The ACG is an alliance of ten development funds from Arab countries that work together as a multilateral development finance institution to support projects globally across sectors. The group’s combined financial power makes it the world’s second largest donor group. Some of the group’s members include the Abu Dhabi Fund for Development, the Islamic Development Bank, the Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development, the OPEC Fund for International Development, the Qatar Fund for Development and the Saudi Fund for Development.
The group has already mobilized USD bns in financing: The ACG launched a USD 10 bn development package for food security action in 2022. The group also pledged to provide USD 24 bn in climate financing by 2030 at COP27 in Egypt.
REMEMBER- To meet the UNCCD’s targets, an estimated USD 355 bn is needed annually between 2025 and 2030 — or a total cumulative investment of at least USD 2.1 tn — but projected investments for this period are at 77 bn annually, leaving a USD 278 mn funding gap. While investments grew from USD 37 bn in 2016 to USD 66 bn in 2022, the growth remains slow. 72% of investments came from domestic resources, 22% came from bilateral and multilateral sources, and only 6% came from the private sector.
MEANWHILE- Five new initiatives were launched at the Saudi Green Initiative Forum: At the fourth edition of the Saudi Green Initiative Forum happening parallelly to COP16, five new initiatives worth USD 60 mn — that aim to plant trees, restore degraded land, reduce pollution, and support biodiversity growth — were launched, according to a press release. The initiatives will be led by the Saudi Arabian Mining Company (Maaden) and the National Vegetation Development Corporation (Morouj) and include collaboration with the private sector.
