Washington, D.C.– Tomorrow, the World Bank Group is holding a cosultation meeting in Washington, D.C. regarding a general capital increase – the first in 20 years – that donor countries are considering for the Bank’s activities. U.S. representatives will have an opportunity to discuss the vision and direction of the World Bank in light of this potential increase. As the World Bank finds ways to pull developing countries out of the financial crisis, this new report by the Center for American Progress details how its unabated financial support for coal-fired power plants delves countries deeper into the climate crisis.
Global warming is a looming economic disaster that developing countries must address as they move their populations out of poverty, and yet the World Bank continues to fund carbon-intensive projects without enough consideration of clean energy alternatives. This is a problem for an institution with the moral and financial responsibility to foster large-scale investment in sustainable economic growth.
The World Bank should be using its considerable resources to help developing countries choose low-carbon development pathways, and U.S. representatives must drive this point home in their consultation on Friday. Specifically, our report urges the United States and its representatives on the World Bank board to require that the bank:
- Support low-carbon economic growth in developing countries through its financing of energy projects
- Issue an annual report on the entire World Bank Group’s energy financing, with clearly defined fuel types and power generation
- Bring more transparency to its energy project selection process
- Consider the impact of greenhouse gas emissions in economic analyses of all energy projects
It’s time for the World Bank to align its energy financing policies with the broader economic and environmental needs of those it was founded to help.
Read full report here.
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