23 countries launched a "Coalition of Finance Ministers for Climate Action" on Saturday 13 April in Washington, D.C., during the Spring Meetings of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
11 EU Member States - Austria, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom - are among the acceding countries, but also Chile, Costa Rica, Côte d'Ivoire, Ecuador, Iceland, Kenya, Marshall Islands, Mexico, Nigeria, Philippines, Uganda and Uruguay.
The Finance Ministers of these countries endorsed six basic principles, known as the "Helsinki Principles", that is: - align national policies and practices with the commitments of the Paris Agreement; - share experiences and promote collective understanding of climate action policies; - work towards effective carbon pricing measures; - integrate climate change into macroeconomic policies, fiscal planning and public investment management; - mobilise private sources of climate change finance by facilitating investments in sustainable finance; - actively participate in the implementation of nationally determined contributions (NDC) in accordance with the Paris Agreement.
The World Bank will serve as the coalition's secretariat and will work with the IMF, the OECD and several UN agencies to provide policy and technical support to governments. (Original version in French by Marion Fontana)