Earmarked Taxes to Finance Global Public Goods: Relevance and Implementation
November 13, 2023
This second event was on the theme of accessing climate and environment funds and the role of the Multilateral Development Banks.
William Roos, Head of the Multilateral Affairs and Development Department at the General Directorate of the Treasury, Ministry of Economy, Finance and Industrial and Digital Sovereignty.
It has been proposed that the World Bank should become a climate bank, and there are other global public goods for which it could be the bank, although for some of these the UN institutions may be more legitimate. Would becoming the bank of global (or regional) public goods mean that the multilateral development banks abandon their traditional functions?
Philippe Le Houérou, Chairman of the Board of Directors of AFD, Director of the AIFD Chair, Former Executive Vice President and Managing Director of the International Finance Corporation (IFC)
Rabah Arezki, Former Chief Ecnomist and Vice President at the African Development Bank
The climate emergency has led to the creation of a multitude of "green funds" and the "greening" of much development finance. The lack of coordination between these initiatives and the fragmentation of climate or more generally environmental financing, as well as the lack of a common methodology for identifying these funds and financing, make it necessary to put things in order. How can a rationality be established in this set of green funds? What role can the new fund whose creation was decided at COP 27 play in this context?
Philippe Le Houérou, Chairman of the Board of Directors of AFD, Director of the AIFD Chair, Former Executive Vice President and Managing Director of the International Finance Corporation (IFC)
Akihiko Nishio, World Bank Vice President for Development Finance
Ambroise Fayolle, Vice-President of the European Investment Bank (EIB)
Olivier Cattaneo, Head of Unit, Policy Analysis and Strategy, Development Cooperation Directorate, OECD
Jean-Christophe Donnellier, Member of the Transitional Committee on Loss and Damage, Member of the Board of the Green Climate Fund
Sébastien Treyer, Director General of IDDRI
Daouda Sembene, Director General of AfriCatalyst Global Development Advisory
Since its creation, FERDI has made international development finance its priority programme. At the same time, it has carried out a great deal of work on country vulnerability, its different forms, their measurement and how they were or could be taken into account in international development finance. Ferdi is internationally recognised for its expertise on issues of country vulnerability and its links to financing.
In addition, since the beginning of the year, FERDI has created a Chair on the "International Architecture Development Finance " (IADF) under the direction of Philippe le Houérou, Chairman of the Board of Directors of AFD and former CEO of IFC, and with the participation of a select group of French personalities with considerable experience in the field and an equal desire for reform, all intervening in their personal capacity: notably Rabah Arezki, former Chief Economist and Vice President of the African Development Bank; Bruno Cabrillac, Deputy Director General of Studies and International Relations, Banque de France; Sylviane Guillaumont Jeanneney, Professor Emeritus, former member of the Board of Directors of the AFD; Alain de Janvry and Elisabeth Sadoulet Professors at the University of California at Berkeley, Senior Fellows at Ferdi; Olivier Lafourcade, former Director at the World Bank; Alain Le Roy, Ambassadeur de France and former Under Secretary General of the United Nations; Jean-Michel Severino, Chairman of Investisseurs et Partenaires (I&P) and former Director General of the AFD.
The purpose of the group was to reflect independently on what the global development finance system should become in the light of the current international situation and the lessons learned from the past 60 years. The announcement made by the President of the French Republic of a Summit to be held in Paris on the financing of vulnerable countries with a view to adopting a Financial Pact with these countries has led the IADF Chaire to adapt, accelerate and amplify its programme so as to make contributions on themes that are crucial to the orientation of the Summit.
