By Vanora Bennett

What can multilateral development banks do to better develop sustainable, accessible, resilient and quality infrastructure for emerging countries, especially in the wake of the global coronavirus epidemic?

Senior representatives from 21 countries and leaders of the world’s international organisations focused on the global power sector have issued a statement on their aims, after holding a first meeting of the COP26 Energy Transition Council, which aims to accelerate the global transition to clean power.

The Energy Transition Council has been created as part of the United Kingdom’s presidency of COP26, the global climate summit due to take place in November 2021 in Glasgow. #

It recognises that a rapid and just transition to clean power is vital to meet the goals of the Paris Agreement for avoiding dangerous climate change and limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius.

Chaired by COP26 President, the UK Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Alok Sharma, and the UN Secretary General’s Special Representative for Sustainable Energy, Damilola Ogunbiyi, the group agreed to use this forum to enhance its cooperation to meet the challenge.

The launch meeting identified five specific areas for collaboration.

Representing the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD). Nandita Parshad, Managing Director for Sustainable Infrastructure, said: “The EBRD as an international financial institution with both transition and green at the core of its mandate is very pleased to be part of this important platform in the run-up to the COP26, to share experience in policy and investments, stimulate and scale-up clean energy and accelerate the delivery of the objectives of the Paris Agreement.”

The EBRD is a pioneer in financing projects promoting renewable energy and combatting climate change, and has become the largest renewable energy investor in its regions of Central and Eastern Europe, Central Asia and the Southern and Eastern Mediterranean.

Through its Green Economy Transition (GET) approach 2021-25, the EBRD aims to increase green financing to more than half its annual business volume by 2020, while helping countries where it works build low carbon and resilient economies.