COP28: France, Japan back AfDB’s SDR plan

France and Japan will support the African Development Bank’s scheme to use IMF Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) for climate and development, as the COP28 presidency said on X on Monday.

SDRs are the IMF’s rainy-day foreign exchange reserves, some of which were used during the COVID pandemic but are mostly held in reserve.

Development banks may be able to increase climate finance in developing markets if the SDRs are permitted to be on loan to them.