SOAS Centre for Sustainable Finance at the 2026 Annual Meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank Group

SOAS experts contribute to discussions in Bangkok on mobilising sustainable and resilient finance and future-proofing public finances.

The SOAS Centre for Sustainable Finance contributed to several high-level events at the 2026 Annual Meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank Group which this year took place in Bangkok. Professor Ulrich Volz and Dr Harald Heubaum contributed to multiple dialogues, panel discussions and roundtables throughout the week.

Highlights included a side event on “The Role of Aggregation and Intermediation in Scaling Private Infrastructure Finance: What Can MDBs and DFIs Do Differently?” that the SOAS Centre for Sustainable Finance co-hosted together with ODI Global. 

Following welcome remarks delivered by the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office’s Warsan Abdi, Professor Volz and Dr Judith Tyson from ODI Global presented preliminary research findings from the FCDO-sponsored project on Mobilising Private Finance for Sustainable Economic Infrastructure which were then discussed by an expert panel and the audience. Panellists included Professor Bambang Brodjonegoro, Dean and CEO of the Asian Development Bank Institute, Admassu Tadesse, President and CEO of Trade and Development Bank Group, Dr Reynaldi Hermansjah, the President Director of PT Sarana Multi Infrastruktur, and Kirstine Damkjær, the Chief Investment Officer at ILX. The discussion was moderated by Martin Koehring, Principal Research Fellow and Head of the Centre for Private Finance in Development at ODI Global. Dr Hans Peter Lankes, ODI Global’s Deputy Chief Executive & Managing Director, provided closing reflections. A recording of the discussion is available.

A further highlight included a theme setting presentation on “Building Resilience through Knowledge: Insights from Capability Needs Assessments and Capacity Building across Asia and Beyond” delivered by Professor Volz at the Asia-Pacific Regional Dialogue on Climate Fiscal Resilience and Climate Finance. 

Co-organized by the Coalition of Finance Ministers for Climate Action and the Asian Development Bank (ADB), this full-day regional dialogue brought together Ministries of Finance from across Asia and the Pacific to exchange practical experiences on managing climate-related fiscal risks, mobilizing climate finance, and strengthening regional cooperation. 

In his presentation, Professor Volz shared insights from the SOAS Centre for Sustainable Finance’s work with the ADB on capability assessments and in-country climate finance trainings for finance ministries in Southeast Asia with the ASEAN Climate Finance Policy Platform Framework and in Pacific islands with the Pacific Fiscal Resilience Initiative. He highlighted that ministries of finance in ASEAN and the Pacific are increasingly embedding climate objectives in their strategies, institutions and financial instruments, but progress remains uneven and climate analysis still needs to become a routine basis for core fiscal, debt and investment decisions. Tailored and targeted capacity building and training are needed to achieve this. 

For capacity buildings to be sustainable, it is critical to work with local knowledge partners. The approach pursued by the SOAS-led Resilience and Adaptation Mainstreaming Programme (RAMP) of working with local universities has proven to be very successful in Asia but also in Africa and across Latin America and the Caribbean.

Header image credit: Braden Jarvis via Unsplash.