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Conference of the Parties (COP 28): Multilateral Development Banks boost joint action on climate and development

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COP24

MDBs continue to work on aligning their activities with the Paris Agreement goals using their joint framework published at COP24

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates, December 4, 2023/APO Group/ — 

Multilateral Development Banks (MDBs) have published a joint statement (https://apo-opa.co/3QZQ21a) where they present concrete and urgent actions to scale up finance and enhance climate outcomes measurement, strengthen country-level collaboration, and increase co-financing and private sector engagement. The announcement comes as world leaders are gathering at the COP28 United Nations Climate Change Conference in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

“The window of opportunity to secure a liveable and sustainable future for all is rapidly closing. Recognising the interlinkages between the triple planetary crises of climate, nature, and pollution, achieving the Sustainable Development Goals, the goals of the Paris Agreement and the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) requires all of us to step up our efforts with urgency and scale,” the MDB statement said.

EIB President Werner Hoyer commented: “To keep the 1.5°C temperature goal in sight, we need stronger partnerships worldwide. This joint statement from the world’s multilateral development banks makes it clear that we have heard the calls to step up and that we have the means to deliver. Crucially, we have agreed to further strengthen our cooperation to support countries and the private sector to accelerate a green and just transition and build resilience. The EIB is fully committed to working with all our fellow MDBs to increase financing, improve the impact of our actions, and ensure that the most vulnerable are not left behind. As the EU climate bank, our priority is to bring together innovation, development and climate action objectives in all the projects we finance.”

In the joint statement, MDBs reaffirm their commitment to socially inclusive, gender responsive and nature positive climate and development action, leveraging different mandates, unique country and client networks, operating models, geographies, and expertise. MDBs will achieve this through:

We have agreed to further strengthen our cooperation to support countries and the private sector to accelerate a green and just transition and build resilience

  • An increased focus on measuring climate results, outcomes and impact
  • Coordinated support for countries and sub-national entities to formulate and operationalise Long-term Strategies (LTS)
  • Country level collaboration
  • Attracting private capital at scale
  • Supporting enhanced efforts on adaptation and disaster risk management

The climate and ecological crises are intertwined with many other global challenges. MDBs therefore also commit to strengthen collaboration in line with MDB respective mandates and governance frameworks on nature, water, health and gender.

The joint MDB statement announced today builds on their major progress and outcomes delivered to date.  In 2022, MDBs provided record-levels of climate finance and private finance mobilization. MDBs jointly committed $61 billion of climate finance for low and middle-income economies, up 18% from 2021; and close to $100 billion in all economies where we operate. In low- and middle-income countries, adaptation finance accounted for 37% of this and total climate co-finance reached $46 billion, of which $15 billion was private finance mobilization. 

In addition, MDBs continue to work on aligning their activities with the Paris Agreement goals using their joint framework published at COP24. In particular, in 2023, MDBs published the Joint MDB Methodological Principles for Assessment of Paris Agreement Alignment of New operations and are supporting just transition efforts in diverse contexts and regions.

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of European Investment Bank (EIB).

Events

Optics Valley Launches Corporate International Communication Alliance to Empower Tech Companies’ High-Quality Global Expansion

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Optics Valley

WUHAN, CHINA – Media OutReach Newswire – 17 September 2026 – On September 13, the inauguration ceremony of the Optics Valley International Communication Alliance was held. Representatives of 13 founding member companies — including FiberHome, China Construction Third Engineering Bureau, HGTECH, YHKT Entertainment, Huakang Clean and Shenglong Electric — and of more than 100 other Optics Valley enterprises attended the event.

 




 
 

The ceremony was held under the theme “Chasing the Light, Connecting the World.” In recent years, Optics Valley’s innovations have been reaching the world at an accelerating pace. The overseas social media matrix of “Optics Valley of China” has continued to attract attention, and “made in Optics Valley” products such as the Optics Valley Photon sky rail and driverless minibuses have been repeatedly applauded by spokespersons of China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, becoming a “calling card for China” in the eyes of overseas netizens. To help companies move from “product export” to “brand export,” Optics Valley has worked with the News & Information Service Center of Xinhua News Agency and other partners to establish the Optics Valley International Communication Alliance, opening international communication resources to Optics Valley companies and providing them with one-stop services such as overseas public opinion response and multilingual content production, so as to serve as a “navigator” for companies going global. As the national news agency of China, Xinhua News Agency has 184 overseas branches and has established cooperative links with more than 2,000 media outlets around the world.

Speaking as a representative of the founding members, Li Lei, vice president of FiberHome, said that FiberHome’s business now covers more than 100 countries and regions, with wholly owned subsidiaries in 36 countries and three overseas optical cable plants in Ecuador, Thailand and Hungary; at its Philippine subsidiary, locally hired employees account for more than 95 percent of the workforce. “We will stay committed to high-quality global expansion and to deepening localized operations, and, with the platform of the Optics Valley International Communication Alliance, we will not only export China’s advanced communication technologies and solutions, but also serve as a bridge for industrial cooperation and people-to-people connectivity between China and the rest of the world,” he said.

Huakang Clean, also a founding member, is a leading enterprise in China’s cleanroom industry. It has made going global a core strategy for the 15th Five-Year Plan period, completed its market layout in Southeast Asia, Central Asia, the Middle East, South America and Africa, and exported mature cleanroom technology solutions. It looks forward to deepening cross-border collaboration and strengthening brand building through the alliance platform.

At the ceremony, a think tank report was released — “Going Global, Competing Worldwide: How ‘Optics Valley of China’ Polishes Its International Calling Card in Service of Building a Strong Nation in Science and Technology — Practices and Insights,” written by Reference News Press · Reference Think Tank. According to the report, leading enterprises represented by the “Seven Stars of Optics Valley” have seen average annual growth in overseas revenue of more than 30 percent. The report sums up Optics Valley’s global communication path as “one strategic direction and ten keywords”: Optics Valley takes serving the building of a strong nation in science and technology as its strategic direction, and adheres to central-local coordination, AI empowerment, going global as a team, and tailored measures for different markets.

The report states that Optics Valley has witnessed and written the confidence and determination of a brand of a strong nation in science and technology going global, and that when the light of “Optics Valley of China” illuminates the global industrial landscape, it conveys the narrative of the times in which China takes part in global competition through technological self-reliance and self-strengthening and shares its opportunities with the world. The report suggests that, for Optics Valley to keep polishing its international calling card in service of building a strong nation in science and technology, three things need to be fully considered: first, elevating the Optics Valley story from “corporate behavior” to a “national narrative”; second, making full use of AI, a global knowledge-service infrastructure, to carry out global communication; and third, moving from “communication empowering industry” to “communication as an industrial capability.”

A training session on overseas communication capacity building was held alongside the inauguration ceremony, with David Wei, founder of Vision Knight Capital, and Cao Yang, deputy director of the International Communication Department of the News & Information Service Center of Xinhua News Agency, invited to give lectures.
 




 

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Carbon, water and grid investment move to the centre of Africa’s business resilience agenda

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A new series of VUKA Group webinars will bring industry experts together to examine these challenges and the practical decisions organisations need to make

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa, September 24, 2026/APO Group/ –Commercial and industrial businesses, utilities and investors across Africa are being forced to confront three increasingly connected challenges: credible decarbonisation, water security and the infrastructure required to support reliable power systems.

A new series of VUKA Group webinars will bring industry experts together to examine these challenges and the practical decisions organisations need to make.

 




 
Commercial and industrial compliance in the spotlight

On 29 September 2026 at 13:00 SAST, Carbon, compliance and credible energy claims: What C&I customers must get right will explore how commercial and industrial energy users can align renewable energy procurement with carbon accounting standards and evolving reporting obligations.

The discussion will examine the evidence required to substantiate renewable electricity claims, the role of Renewable Energy Certificates in Scope 2 reporting, the implications of mechanisms such as the EU Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism and how organisations can reduce greenwashing risk while strengthening emissions reporting.

Speakers include Sanelisiwe Mdlalose, Hulamin; Hendrick Raedani, City of Ekurhuleni; and Duane Newman, EY.

Register for the carbon compliance webinar: https://apo-opa.co/4AtqRKf

These issues will continue at the C&I Energy + Storage Summit Johannesburg, 28–29 October 2026 at The Maslow Hotel, Sandton, where energy procurement, carbon taxes, renewable integration, storage, market reform and industrial resilience form part of the programme.

Find out more about the Summit: https://apo-opa.co/4xMkZsR

Strategy for African water resilience

Water resilience takes centre stage on 30 September 2026 at 14:00 SAST with From water risk to water resilience: How South Africa’s water-intensive industries are securing their future.

The webinar will examine how businesses are responding to ageing infrastructure, supply uncertainty, rising costs and sustainability pressures by improving efficiency, diversifying water sources and investing in reuse, recycling and smarter water management.

The webinar line-up includes Benoit Le Roy, South African Water Chamber NPC; Nsuku Chankira, Thungela; Molatelo Motau, Heineken Beverages; Marilyn Maduka, Credew Limited; and Philindile Mahlangu from Magalies Water as moderator.

Register for the water resilience webinar: https://apo-opa.co/4z0aJyx

The conversation continues at Water Security Africa Johannesburg, co-located with the C&I Energy + Storage Summit, where industrial water independence, infrastructure finance, digital water systems, reuse and business continuity will be explored across two days.

Read more here: https://apo-opa.co/4yfjlBj

Towards Africa’s scalable energy transition

Looking to the infrastructure enabling Africa’s energy transition, Scaling transmission infrastructure: Innovative financing models for emerging markets takes place on 14 October 2026 at 14:00 SAST, moderated by Tshegofatso Neeuwfan, Global Energy Alliance.

Using the Mozambique Temane Transmission Project and insights from Belgian transmission system operator Elia, the webinar will explore bankable project structures, risk allocation and investor engagement that can help move major transmission projects from planning to delivery.

Register for the transmission infrastructure webinar: https://apo-opa.co/4ycMnkS

Transmission investment, project delivery and financing will remain central to Enlit Africa, 11–13 May 2027 at the CTICC in Cape Town, bringing Africa’s power, energy and water sectors together around supply security, investment and infrastructure development.

Join the Enlit Africa 2027 programme waiting list: www.Enlit-Africa.com

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of VUKA Group.

 




 

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Business

Carbon, water and grid investment move to the centre of Africa’s business resilience agenda

Published

on

A new series of VUKA Group webinars will bring industry experts together to examine these challenges and the practical decisions organisations need to make

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa, September 24, 2026/APO Group/ –Commercial and industrial businesses, utilities and investors across Africa are being forced to confront three increasingly connected challenges: credible decarbonisation, water security and the infrastructure required to support reliable power systems.

A new series of VUKA Group webinars will bring industry experts together to examine these challenges and the practical decisions organisations need to make.

 




 
Commercial and industrial compliance in the spotlight

On 29 September 2026 at 13:00 SAST, Carbon, compliance and credible energy claims: What C&I customers must get right will explore how commercial and industrial energy users can align renewable energy procurement with carbon accounting standards and evolving reporting obligations.

The discussion will examine the evidence required to substantiate renewable electricity claims, the role of Renewable Energy Certificates in Scope 2 reporting, the implications of mechanisms such as the EU Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism and how organisations can reduce greenwashing risk while strengthening emissions reporting.

Speakers include Sanelisiwe Mdlalose, Hulamin; Hendrick Raedani, City of Ekurhuleni; and Duane Newman, EY.

Register for the carbon compliance webinar: https://apo-opa.co/4AtqRKf

These issues will continue at the C&I Energy + Storage Summit Johannesburg, 28–29 October 2026 at The Maslow Hotel, Sandton, where energy procurement, carbon taxes, renewable integration, storage, market reform and industrial resilience form part of the programme.

Find out more about the Summit: https://apo-opa.co/4xMkZsR

Strategy for African water resilience

Water resilience takes centre stage on 30 September 2026 at 14:00 SAST with From water risk to water resilience: How South Africa’s water-intensive industries are securing their future.

The webinar will examine how businesses are responding to ageing infrastructure, supply uncertainty, rising costs and sustainability pressures by improving efficiency, diversifying water sources and investing in reuse, recycling and smarter water management.

The webinar line-up includes Benoit Le Roy, South African Water Chamber NPC; Nsuku Chankira, Thungela; Molatelo Motau, Heineken Beverages; Marilyn Maduka, Credew Limited; and Philindile Mahlangu from Magalies Water as moderator.

Register for the water resilience webinar: https://apo-opa.co/4z0aJyx

The conversation continues at Water Security Africa Johannesburg, co-located with the C&I Energy + Storage Summit, where industrial water independence, infrastructure finance, digital water systems, reuse and business continuity will be explored across two days.

Read more here: https://apo-opa.co/4yfjlBj

Towards Africa’s scalable energy transition

Looking to the infrastructure enabling Africa’s energy transition, Scaling transmission infrastructure: Innovative financing models for emerging markets takes place on 14 October 2026 at 14:00 SAST, moderated by Tshegofatso Neeuwfan, Global Energy Alliance.

Using the Mozambique Temane Transmission Project and insights from Belgian transmission system operator Elia, the webinar will explore bankable project structures, risk allocation and investor engagement that can help move major transmission projects from planning to delivery.

Register for the transmission infrastructure webinar: https://apo-opa.co/4ycMnkS

Transmission investment, project delivery and financing will remain central to Enlit Africa, 11–13 May 2027 at the CTICC in Cape Town, bringing Africa’s power, energy and water sectors together around supply security, investment and infrastructure development.

Join the Enlit Africa 2027 programme waiting list: www.Enlit-Africa.com

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of VUKA Group.

 




 

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