Vera Songwe
Dr Vera Songwe is the Chair of the Liquidity and Sustainability Facility and a Nonresident Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution. She is an economist and former United Nations Under-Secretary-General. From 2017 to 2022, she served as Executive Secretary of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA).
Prior to her role at the ECA, she held senior positions at the World Bank and the International Finance Corporation, focusing on fiscal policy, governance, financial markets, and economic development in Africa. She has also contributed to high-level international panels on climate finance, including the G20 Independent Expert Group on MDB reform and the High-Level Panel on Climate Finance.
Dr Songwe has been consistently recognised among the “100 Most Influential Africans” and the “50 Most Powerful Women in Africa” by Forbes. Her research interests include sustainable development, debt sustainability, climate finance, and Africa’s economic transformation.
Policy
Policy - 2024
The third report of the Independent High Level Expert Group on Climate Finance, updating previous estimates of investment requirements for climate action and setting out the action agenda to deliver the necessary finance for investment in emerging markets and developing countries (EMDCs) other than China. Read more
Policy - 2023
Actual investment performance on key climate priorities in emerging markets and developing countries has stalled. This second report from Independent High-Level Expert Group on Climate Finance focuses on how to accelerate investment to deliver the goals of the Paris Agreement and implement a framework for action. Read more
Policy - 2022
This report of the Independent High-Level Expert Group on Climate Finance provides a framework for delivering finance for climate action, following the comprehensive approach embodied in the Paris Agreement and UNFCCC. Read more
News
News - 2022
The world will not avoid dangerous levels of climate change without a significant increase in investment. This commentary presents three priorities for climate finance for the achievement of the Paris targets and the protection of the world's most vulnerable communities. Read more
