COP19 (18/11/13) – Rachel Kyte, Vice President for Sustainable Development at the World Bank says the bank’s forecasts show loss and damage as a result of climate change will climb steeply into the future.

She says delegates need to plan on how to minimise the risks of loss and damage and to invest in resilience.

For every dollar invested in resilience you can save $4 in relief. For a dollar invested in early warning you can save $35 in relief, says Kyte.

One way to find that money to invest in resilience is to stop subsidies for fossil fuels, but she acknowledges this is a political issue. However, Kyte says the World Bank is in a position to show governments the poor will not be affected if these subsidies were taken away.

The World Bank was recently criticised for continuing to invest in coal, but Kyte says that even if we were able to connect the 1.3 billion people who don’t have access to energy to fossil fuels for their electricity supply that would account for less than 1% of emissions.