These 'beautiful' banks are meant to save us

Each year this week, some of the brightest minds in finance and development meet in Washington DC for the spring meetings of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. They make headlines in financial press and this year will be no different.

With US President Donald Trump committed to reshaping global trade with the use of tariffs, there will be a lot of discussion about how to maintain economic growth and trade. But it's worth remembering that nearly half the money that's lent by these institutions is now toward climate purposes (because a stable climate is core to economic growth and better managing the risks of climate change is a net-positive for economic development).

That alone would make it important to understand what these multilateral development banks do. However, the importance of MDBs in the climate fight is only going grow with countries at COP29 signing off on the goal to triple global climate finance over the next decade from $100 billion each year to $300 billion.

It's why this week's episode of the Zero podcast with Avinash Persaud is particularly timely. Avinash is a special adviser to an MDB. That makes him, unsurprisingly, a supporter of their work. But he’s not just an MDB insider. He’s come to that role after a long career as a banker on Wall Street in New York and in the City of London, and as an advisor on economic issues to a developing country government. His insights come from seeing all sides of the financial system.

Hope you enjoy it and send us your climate-finance questions on zeropod@bloomberg.net. Thanks for listening!

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