Development banks pass climate 2019 goal, urged to help poor more

The world's top development banks provided more than $80 billion last year to help countries tackle climate change, passing a goal they set in 2019, according to a report published Friday.

The European Investment Bank, or EIB, said it and seven other financial institutions committed almost $50.7 billion to low- and middle-income countries, and over $31 billion to rich nations in 2021.

Multilateral development banks such as the EIB and the World Bank had pledged three years ago to collectively achieve those targets by 2025.

Still, the banks have faced calls to step up their lending for climate projects even more, particularly to struggling economies which are unable to finance projects in other ways.

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said this week that development banks' current business models were painfully averse to risk.

This causes projects such as renewable energy installation to be many times more expensive in poor countries than in rich nations, he said.