Washington, D.C., October 4, 2010
—IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, has established a new Climate Business Group to integrate climate issues into its investment and advisory services activities across all industries and regions. The formation of the new group reflects IFC’s heightened strategic focus on climate change.
Led by Global Head Mohsen Khalil, the group’s goal is to grow IFC’s climate-related investments to at least 20 percent of its overall commitments within three years—tripling our annual program to more than $3 billion, not including funds we can mobilize from other sources to supplement IFC’s own investments. The group will look to establish high-level platforms to more effectively engage the private sector in the debate over climate.
“The strong engagement of the private sector, supported by climate policies and incentives, is essential for attaining the necessary funding, scale, and innovation to address climate change,” said World Bank Group President Robert B. Zoellick.
IFC Executive Vice President and Chief Executive Officer Lars Thunell said: “Under Mohsen’s leadership, IFC’s Climate Business Group will intensify our focus on one of the leading development challenges of our time, helping expand access to clean energy, promote environmentally friendly production, and drive innovations that support green investments.”
IFC aims to be a thought leader on climate issues, including among other things, developing reference methods for setting and monitoring climate standards and helping our clients assess the impact of carbon emissions. It intends to support greater private-sector investment in this area, including investments in new climate business models and new and transferable clean technologies while helping our clients incorporate climate change into their sustainable-business strategies. IFC also plans to be a leader in financial innovation, by working with financial intermediaries to increase local capacity for climate policy and investments and developing new mechanisms to blend public and private funds for climate projects.
Khalil is one of IFC’s most experienced executives, with a record of success in investments and technologies, financial products and innovations, and policy and analytics. For the last decade, he has been Director of the Global Information and Communication Technologies Department, a joint IFC-World Bank Department that invested and provided policy advice in more than 80 countries. He also has significant regional and industry experience, having served as Director of IFC’s Central Asia, Middle East, and North Africa Department.
IFC’s climate strategy reflects the World Bank Group’s Strategic Framework for Development and Climate Change. The Climate Business Group’s approach will be broad and cross-cutting, leveraging the best of IFC to provide new opportunities for our clients and stakeholders. It will work closely with all operational departments in all industries and regions, with a particular focus on renewable energy, energy efficiency, water and waste management, agriculture and forestry, logistics and distribution, and “green” construction.
The formation of this Group will complement the Bank’s recent appointment of Andrew Steer as Special Envoy for Climate Change by bringing a stronger focus on investments and the private sector.
About IFC
IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, creates opportunity for people to escape poverty and improve their lives. We foster sustainable economic growth in developing countries by supporting private sector development, mobilizing private capital, and providing advisory and risk mitigation services to businesses and governments. In a time of global economic uncertainty, our new investments climbed to a record $18 billion in fiscal 2010. For more information, visit
www.ifc.org
.
