WASHINGTON: The World Bank has pumped US$14.8 billion into fossil fuel projects globally in the period following the landmark Paris climate accord, a report said on Thursday (Oct 6).
Though the multilateral lender pledged in 2018 to end financing for upstream oil and gas, and direct funding had declined, the move failed to include indirect financing, according to the report compiled by an NGO coalition called The Big Shift Global.
It comes amid growing pressure on US President Joe Biden to fire World Bank chief David Malpass, a Trump appointee who has dodged questions about the reality of human-driven climate change.
“Each time the World Bank invests in another fossil fuel project, it fuels more climate disaster,” said Sophie Richmond of Big Shift. “There is no justification for using taxpayers’ money to exacerbate the climate crisis.”
One of the main ways the Bank continued to fund fossil fuels was by exploiting a “major loophole” by lending to intermediaries such as banks or financial institutions and by acting as a guarantor in case a country did not meet its obligations, the report said.
Under the 2015 Paris deal, world leaders committed to limiting long-term warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius to avert devastating outcomes for the planet’s future habitability.
The biggest project listed in the report, called Investing in Climate Disaster: World Bank Finance for Fossil Fuels, was the Trans-Anatolian Pipeline in Azerbaijan, funded in 2018 to the tune of US$1.1 billion, with the Bank acting as a guarantor.
“It serves to perpetuate ongoing use of fossil gas in Europe,” the report said, while noting that while the pipeline may increase gas export revenues, market volatility makes it an unreliable source of income.
The World Bank Group’s own assessment stated the project was “expected to have potentially significant adverse social and environmental impacts that are diverse, irreversible, or unprecedented” – but it gave a green light anyway.
Source: CNA
