Although it’s now widely recognized that they must be tackled together, the goals of poverty alleviation and climate action haven’t always been seen as interlinked. In fact, some development advocates continue to worry that a focus on addressing climate change will come at the expense of immediate human needs, especially in the most low-income and fragile countries.

These debates have also played out within multilateral development institutions such as the World Bank, whose mission was recently redefined from “ending extreme poverty and promoting shared prosperity” to “ending poverty on a livable planet” by the bank’s new president, Ajay Banga.

“What I think Ajay Banga shifted in this conversation is recognition of the fact that poverty and environment in many domains are deeply intertwined. That a commitment to eliminating poverty is almost impossible without an equal commitment to preserving the planet,” said Richard Damania, chief economist of the Sustainable Development Practice Group at the World Bank, in this episode of Climate +.

Formerly a professor of economics at the University of Adelaide, Australia, Damania has been at the World Bank for over a decade and has witnessed how the bank’s thinking has evolved during this time. “Over time now, it's just become completely mainstream. No one would wink an eyelid if you start talking, for example, about the [economic] impacts of climate change,” he said.

Damania joined Devex President and Editor-in-Chief Raj Kumar for a special episode of Climate + sponsored by the World Bank. In addition to the bank’s new mission, they discussed how to measure the economic effects of climate change, how climate change is affecting the water cycle, and the damaging impacts of subsidies for agriculture, fishing, and fossil fuels.

The Climate + podcast is supported by the World Bank. To learn more about efforts to end poverty on a livable planet, visit: https://www.worldbank.org/en/programs/the-world-bank-at-cop28

Join Devex on Dec. 7 on the sidelines of COP 28 in Dubai or online from anywhere for the Climate + summit. Register here.