Member country officials, private and public sector executives and academics assembled in Lima last week to discuss global concerns and achievements: poverty eradication, climate change, renewable energy, international development, and more. Over three days at the Annunal meetings of the World Bank Group and International Monetary Fund concerns, achievements and commitments were announced by world leaders just two months before COP21.

Finance ministers of the "Vulnerable Twenty" (V20) countries most at risk from climate change, representing close to 700 million people, said this week that an average of more than 50,000 deaths a year were attributable to climate change, with the number expected to rise exponentially by 2030.

On Oct. 9, following the Climate Ministerial meeting hosted by Peru and France, the Bank Group pledged to boost climate-related financing by as much as a third, to as high as $29 billion annually, with the support of the Bank Group’s member countries.

"The World Bank Group stands ready to scale up its support to meet increasing demand from countries," Jim Yong Kim, World Bank President, said in a press conference.

"If world leaders do not find a path to low-carbon growth that will keep global warming below an increase of 2 degrees Celsius, there is little hope of ending extreme poverty — and even more broadly, there is little hope of preserving the Earth as we know it for our children and grandchildren," said Kim and he urged countries to "show real ambition" at the climate change conference in Paris in December.

Connect4Climate followed the Annual Meetings closely, as they were filled with impressive and inspirational statements - see some highlighted quotes below: