DUBAI — International Monetary Fund (IMF) managing director Kristalina Georgieva on Saturday called on global governments to reduce fossil fuel subsidies and increase the price of carbon in order to speed up the green transition. She also urged the private sector to "move faster" on delivering climate finance to developing countries vulnerable to extreme weather and natural disasters.
Addressing an audience of business leaders and philanthropists at the COP28 UN climate summit in Dubai, Georgieva said that the fund was “very concerned” with the economic inequality between and within countries, as those with low income will be “way more vulnerable to climate devastation.”
She noted the IMF analysis from earlier this year, which showed that the world’s current nationally determined contributions — an aggregation of each country's individual climate goals — would only lead to an 11% cut in emissions.
Georgieva said a 25-50% cut would be needed by 2030 to keep the world’s temperature below 1.5 degrees Celsius over pre-industrial levels.