“I think Australia does a lot in its neighbourhood now, but I can help multiply what you do in that neighbourhood,” Banga said in an interview with this masthead.

“Because, number one, if you both do it together, we can get more synergy, but number two, every dollar that the government of Australia gives me for IDA becomes four dollars because we are able to leverage from the bond markets, and then I can use that in turn.”

Treasurer Jim Chalmers and the Minister for International Development and the Pacific, Pat Conroy, are expected to bring a submission to the federal cabinet on the matter in coming weeks.

Banga, appointed by the Biden administration, has made climate change a core mission of the bank, in contrast to his predecessor, David Malpass, a controversial Trump appointee and climate sceptic.

Banga has added an extra clause “on a liveable planet” to the bank’s long-standing mission statement – “a world free of poverty”.

The World Bank is the globe’s biggest funder of climate change projects, delivering $US29.4 billion last year and planning more than $US40 billion in the current financial year across its two main financing facilities.

Banga said he intended mainly to listen and learn the needs of the Pacific Island nations during his visits to Fiji and Tuvalu. The World Bank has already committed $US2.8 billion to 87 projects across the region.

The needs of small island states, he said, “are pretty unique”.

“They all have to do with adapting to the downstream effects of climate change. They have to do with the fact that one hurricane could wipe out double digits of their GDP.”

He said jobs were central. If education, training, jobs, dignity and hope were not available for young people, they’d migrate: “You won’t have a critical mass left for these societies.”

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