This announcement comes ahead of the “COP30” climate summit in Brazil, a full decade after the Paris Agreement, which stipulated the establishment of the Fund, the world’s largest multilateral climate fund and considered a key tool for financing efforts to combat global warming.
Duarte said, “This will be transformative for the country,” and noted that this commitment to the water desalination and transportation project between Aqaba and Amman in Jordan represents “the Fund’s largest investment in a single project.”
During its meeting in South Korea, the Fund’s Board of Directors approved on Wednesday grants and loans totaling $295 million, with the aim of attracting additional funding from other parties, including the “International Finance Corporation” in addition to private sector lenders.
This massive project is considered one of the largest desalination projects in the world, and is expected to directly serve nearly half of Jordan’s population, which ranks second globally in terms of water scarcity. Forecasts indicate that this crisis will worsen, with temperatures expected to rise by 4 degrees Celsius and rainfall to decrease by 21% by the end of the century, which will lead to increased evaporation, depletion of groundwater and increased drought severity.
In a related context, Jordanian officials revealed a pledge from the United States to provide $300 million in grants and $1 billion in loans for the project, with expectations of contributions from other countries in the region.
