The International Monetary Fund (IMF) experts are predicting significant pledges of support towards battling climate change by creating sustainable energy sources and long-term challenges.

In the spring meeting session of the IMF, they discussed a new program titled the Resilience and Sustainability Trust (RST) with an accompanying Resilience and Sustainability Facility (RSF) that was proposed in January 2022. According to the IMF, the central objective of the RST is “To provide affordable long-term financing to support countries as they tackle structural challenges.” In light of the COVID-19 pandemic, middle to low-income countries have greatly suffered. The trust has a goal of raising over $45 billion to support these counties and create meaningful change. There are many facets to the terms of the loans for these countries and the types of reforms that are specified, with several areas such as tackling price pressure, reliant public finances, action against the climate crisis, and resilience against the pandemic.

Craig Beaumont, the deputy director of the IMF, stated in the press release in April 2022 that they are expecting significant pledges, but it will take time to reach the full target. Currently, there is no advancement on which countries will contribute or how much they will until plans finalize closer to October 2022, when there are meetings with the World Bank.

While, in theory, there are many benefits to creating a long-term plan, there are drawbacks that throwing money at the problem won’t solve. The danger that could emerge from this is the allocation of the funding once the trust is created. It is important not only to make sure that the money is used towards specific reforms and programs but that it is used in the most productive means with proper surveillance. In the IMF statement, they share similar concerns along with a complication of creating a new RST with loans. There is a lot of development that will be sorted out, but in order to be effective, it needs to be specifically planned prior to donations.

Moving forward, there are programs that need to implement the RST to successfully ensure that the funding isn’t lost or given improper resources. By working with other world health organizations, and climate change experts to consistent routes of change. The climate crisis is a large threat to human existence and allocating support to lower-income countries that will be affected the most severely and rapidly by climate change seems to be the best course of action.