The Bridgetown Initiative
Led by Barbados PM Mia Mottley at the
UN Climate Change Conference COP27,
the Bridgetown Initiative aims to unlock
climate finance.
● The Bridgetown Initiative — named
after the capital city of Barbados, a
climate-vulnerable Caribbean
nation.
● It is essentially an action plan to reform the global financial system so the world can better respond to current and future crises.
● The way development finance works today is outdated.
● The Bridgetown Initiativ calls for changes and new mechanisms that would provide inclusive, resilient finance to address the climate and development crises.
5 Key Focus of The Bridgetown Initiative
(1.) Changes to how money is loaned to and
repaid by a country hit by disaster, aiming
to prevent countries spiraling into a debt
crisis.
(2.) World’s development banks — like the
World Bank and the International Monetary
Fund (IMF) — to mobilize an additional $1
trillion to developing nations for climate
resilience.
(3.) A new mechanism to be set up to fund
climate mitigation and rebuilding in the
wake of a disaster Called the Global
Climate Mitigation Trust.Global Climate Mitigation Trust
could leverage up to $5 trillion from
the private sector and up to $500
billion in a special emergency
currency called Special Drawing
Rights (SDRs).
(4.) More climate-vulnerable countries would
be able to access better lending deals to
invest in measures that would help them
be more resilient to climate change.
(5.)A loss and damage fund that pays out
when major climate disasters hit.