The World Bank is a United Nations international financial institution that provides loans to developing countries for capital programs. The main goal of the World Bank is the reduction of poverty.
World Bank President, Jim Yong Kim, last week explained that because climate change directly undermines their goal of poverty reduction the World Bank will commit to heavily investing in clean energy projects, only funding coal projects in times of "extreme need".
In the past the World Bank has been one of the worlds biggest funders of fossil fuel projects, inadvertently perpetuating the climate change/poverty cycle. A report from earlier this yea r has shown the bank funded $21 billion of fossil fuel projects since 2008, including $1 billion of oil and other fossil fuel exploration in 2013. Thanks to these latest commitments, the World Bank has taken the first step on a more sustainable path.
Those who contribute least to climate change (which are also the people the World Bank aims to help) are the ones who suffer most as a result of climate change. These commitments are very exciting news and show a positive and holistic framework for ongoing climate action.
Jim Yong Kim explained the World Bank could no longer ignore the facts, the effect climate change is having on the poor and developing nations.
Rachel Kyte, friend of 1 Million Women, World Bank group vice president and special envoy for climate change explains:
“It will only be in circumstances of extreme need that we would contemplate doing coal again. We would only contemplate doing in the poorest of countries where their energy transition as part of their low-carbon development plan means that there are no other base load power sources available at a reasonable price."
“The focus is on being able to ramp up our lending and the leveraging of our lending into all forms of renewable energy. That’s the strategy. It includes everything from all sizes of hydro through to wind, to solar, to concentrated solar, to geothermal. I think we’re invested in every dimension of renewable energy. That is what we’re concentrating on."
The next round of global government climate negotiations will take place in Lima, Peru next week.
Many diplomats are saying this round of UN climate negotiations have the best chance in a generation of striking a deal on global warming.
The Guardian shared this inspiring quote:
“I have never felt as optimistic as I have now,” said Tony de Brum, the foreign minister of the Marshall Islands, which are sinking as sea levels rise in the Pacific. “There is an upbeat feeling on the part of everyone that first of all there is an opportunity here and that secondly, we cannot miss it.”