The Chair’s Summing Up: Independent Evaluation Office — The IMF and Climate Change

Executive Directors welcomed the report of the Independent Evaluation Office (IEO) on the IMF and Climate Change and its well-structured assessment of the Fund’s engagement across surveillance, lending, and capacity development. Most Directors concurred with the report’s positive assessment that the Fund’s work on climate, anchored in members’ macroeconomic and financial frameworks, has provided high value for the membership and the Global Climate Architecture. They noted that the initial phase of implementation involved upfront investment costs and significant institutional learning, with efficiency improving over time as capabilities, organization, and coordination strengthened. Most Directors agreed with the evaluation’s assessment that there is scope to further strengthen the application of the new climate approach, and supported the IEO’s key recommendations for improvement with some qualifications regarding specific suggestions. Noting that some of the challenges are common to many workstreams, Directors stressed the need for close alignment with current and upcoming workstreams, including the Comprehensive Surveillance Review (CSR), Review of Program Design and Conditionality, Financial Sector Assessment Program Review, and Review of the Resilience and Sustainability Trust (RST). Directors emphasized the need to take into consideration resource constraints and highlighted the resulting need for prioritization. While a few Directors considered that the climate strategy might have crowded out the Fund’s core work and the evaluation should have assessed its consistency with the Fund’s mandate, most Directors stressed the need for sustained institutional support to preserve the progress achieved with the new approach.