France and Japan have announced they will lead in supporting the African Development Bank's facility to leverage IMF Special Drawing Rights for climate and development, the COP28 presidency said in a post on X on Monday.

SDRs are rainy day foreign exchange reserves held at the IMF that are rarely used, although some were during the Covid pandemic. Allowing the SDRs to be on-lent to development banks could help them bolster climate finance in developing markets. (Reporting by William James; editing by Simon Jessop)