The Multilateral Cooperation Center for Development Finance (MCDF) will join partners on Monday and Tuesday to focus on roads and railways in the latest of its workshop series on climate-smart connectivity infrastructure.

The two-day virtual workshop next week will consider how to deal with the increasing effects of a warming planet on land transport in developing countries.

Floods which have swept across Pakistan during recent weeks - taking lives and destroying roads, railways and bridges - highlight the climate fragility of connectivity infrastructure. Pakistan and the United Nations attribute climate change to record monsoon rains and melting glaciers that have caused an estimated USD 30 billion in damage across the country.

MCDF is collaborating in the workshop series with the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), Egyptian Ministry of Finance, Islamic Development Bank (IsDB), Vulnerable Twenty (V20) Group, World Bank and World Resources Institute

The workshop on Monday and Tuesday will provide a timely exchange of ideas and practical examples on how the development of road and rail systems can incorporate climate planning. A wide-ranging panel of experts will explore case studies in studies in Bangladesh, Barbados, Brazil, China, Georgia, India and Viet Nam.

In addition to addressing climate resilience, the workshop will provide an exchange of views on how to decarbonize road and rail systems. The transport sector is already responsible for about 20 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions. It is crucial then that expanding transport routes in developing countries follow low-carbon paths in order to avoid an accelerating climate crisis.

The Workshop Series on Climate Smart Connectivity Infrastructure – the Road to Sharm El-Sheikh is helping build momentum for climate action in the leadup to the UN Climate Change Conference (COP27) in Egypt from 6 November.

The workshop series will conclude with a special MCDF partnership event during the Finance Day of COP27. This will showcase the learnings form separate workshops which have explored how to ensure infrastructure planning that enhances connectivity across transport routes and energy grids gives central consideration to climate change.

Keep an eye on the MCDF website for more details.