NIB at the Coalition of Finance Ministers for Climate Action Ministerial Meeting

On 19 April, the Coalition of Finance Ministers for Climate Action held its 7^th Ministerial Meeting. NIB attended the meeting as an institutional partner of the Coalition.

During the meeting, the Finance Ministers and Coalition partners discussed the global economic outlook and the green transition against the backdrop of the current geopolitical situation. The main topics were how to manage climate policy in times of fiscal constraint and energy volatility as well as different approaches to carbon pricing.

André Küüsvek, NIB President & CEO, addressed the Coalition in a video:

“We are horrified by the destruction brought by the war in Ukraine. As we are witnessing humanitarian tragedy unfold in front of our eyes – many of us ask ourselves – what can we do to help?

Finance Ministers across the world have a clear role to play. And so do the international financial institutions, such as ours.

In fact, NIB’s mission to finance projects that improve productivity and protect the environment is now more important than ever. To come out of this crisis, investments will be vital.

There is a risk that climate objectives may be hindered in the short term for the sake of energy security. While we aim to secure independent energy supply, we should also push to accelerate the green transition.

NIB has a strong track record on this. For our Nordic-Baltic member countries, energy security has been high on the agenda for many years. NIB has made its financing available for crucial energy links between Estonia and Finland, Lithuania and Sweden or Denmark and the United Kingdom – all to ensure well integrated energy markets. Recently, we have also financed numerous renewable energy and transmission projects across the whole region.

Yet, we aim for more. We seek to participate in financing new environmental projects worth EUR 30 billion during by 2030. Renewable energy production, carbon-neutral technologies and increased energy efficiency should take a lion’s share in this portfolio.

We may hope that the war will end soon, and that Ukraine will recover from the terrible suffering.

Enormous investments will be needed rebuild the country. We should all play our part, aiming for a safer, greener, and cleaner energy for our planet,” said André Küüsvek in a video statement.

NIB joined the Coalition of Finance Ministers for Climate Action as an institutional partner in 2021 to support the efforts of Finance Ministers in designing and implementing policies to address climate change.

The Coalition brings together fiscal and economic policymakers from over 70 countries in leading the global climate response and in securing a just transition towards low-carbon resilient development. It is currently chaired by the Finance Ministers of Finland and Indonesia with a secretariat managed by the World Bank and International Monetary Fund.