VENICE (Reuters) – U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said on Sunday that she will soon instruct the major multilateral development banks to “increase their climate ambition” and set ambitious timelines to support the Paris Agreement on carbon emissions reductions.
Yellen told a news conference that development lenders including the World Bank needed to boost efforts to encourage more private climate-friendly investment.
“I will be convening the heads of the multilateral development banks to encourage them to increase their climate ambition, both to support the most vulnerable and to incentivize private investment.”
The United States is the dominant shareholder in the World Bank and the Inter-American Development Bank, while it is among the largest in the Asian Development Bank and the African Development Bank.
(Reporting by David Lawder; Editing by Hugh Lawson)