Accelerating Climate Finance: Inspection Panel Chairperson Calls for Greater Caution and Strengthened Safeguards
Inspection Panel Chairperson Ibrahim Pam spoke at the session on Addressing Corruption and Integrity Risks in Climate Finance at the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB). The discussion focused on practical tools to uphold integrity in climate finance and strategies to enhance transparency and accountability in climate-related financial flows.
Highlighting the growing flow of climate finance from multilateral development banks, Ibrahim stressed the importance of maintaining robust safeguards, stating, “With greater speed, we need to have greater caution.” He emphasized that as climate financing accelerates, guardrails for integrity, and environmental and social safeguards must be strengthened—not weakened. He also called for increased engagement of civil society organizations in safeguarding efforts.
Other speakers included:
- Maria Eugenia Trombini of the Igarapé Institute, who presented integrity and reputation risk mapping and highlighted the critical role of data integrity.
- Albert Lihalakha of the Green Climate Fund’s Independent Integrity Unit, who shared insights on using traditional and new tools like machine learning for enhanced risk assessments amidst limited human capacity and an expanding portfolio of climate finance projects.
- Rennie Valladares of the Central American Bank for Economic Integration, who discussed efforts to review projects from the past decade to address recurring issues in the project cycle.
The two-day conference was organized by multiple divisions of the IDB, including the Office of Sanctions Officer, the Climate Change and Sustainable Development Sector, the Climate Change Division, Amazon ACU, the Office of Institutional Integrity, and IDB Invest. The event was also co-hosted by the World Bank’s Office of Suspension and Debarment, the Green Climate Fund’s Independent Integrity Unit, the International Anti-Corruption Academy, and Transparency International.