Leveraging PDBs to achieve Inclusive and Green Food system transformation: A multi-stakeholder perspective

Thank you for joining us for the formal launch of the Public Development Banks Platform. Today, we are together taking a major step toward our commitment to scale up green and inclusive investment in food and agriculture.

Let me briefly recap how we got here.

The process was set in motion at the first Summit last November.

It was broadly recognized that climate change and COVID-19 were undermining efforts to achieve the 2030 Agenda and the Paris Agreement. It was also acknowledged that transforming food systems would be central to accelerate progress on both.

We, as Public Development Banks, knew we could leverage our common expertise and experience to help make it happen.

At the first Summit, we made a joint commitment to rethink PDB’s investments in food and agriculture. This commitment resonates at this auspicious moment, as we follow up on the Food Systems Summit and prepare for COP26 in Glasgow.

The idea is to focus more on inclusive and green financing for food systems — to make catalytic investments in agriculture and the food economy.

IFAD has been investing in small-scale farmers and rural communities for over four decades. We are eager to share experiences of channelling green financing towards these communities.

And together, PDBs have the capacity to provide the financial support rural enterprises and rural small producers need to foster transformations in the food systems while improving their livelihoods and resilience.

The need is urgent: US$350 billion will be needed annually over the next decade to transform food systems.

This investment could generate economic gains of US$5.7 trillion every year.

To make this happen, we need to create the conditions for PDBs to stimulate more investments from the private sector. We need, to develop adapted financial products for rural producers and SMEs. We need to strengthen our operations on the ground, tracking and reporting on environmental and social impact to ensure maximum benefits to the poorest and most marginalised.

The Public Development Banks Platform seeks to scale up PDB’s investment through technical assistance, knowledge sharing, innovation, and better tools to measure impact and assess risk.

The success of the Platform will depend on strong and broad partnerships, including with governments, development and financial institutions, private companies, civil society and farmers’ organizations.

So, I invite you to join us as we launch the Platform, and to think about how to leverage this mechanism to improve impact on the lives of those most in need.