… Shift attention to renewables.
The World Bank has been asked to genuinely help to reduce carbon emissions by shifting
financing from fossil fuels to renewables.
Similarly, the Bank has been charged to also help ensure that new infrastructure
benefits local communities and prepares workforces to operate a clean economy.
This was part of the recommendation by the Glasgow Action Team, disclosed at a jointly
addressed Press Conference by Climate, Activists Jonah Gbemre, Murphy Akiri and Jake Hess.
The Press Conference which dwell mostly on
World Bank’s investment in Carbon Capture in Nigeria in Commemoration of 2022 World Habitat Day, pointed out that the World Bank is operating with impunity with the vast proportion of the World Bank’s lending and other programme portfolios immune from legal action, as does the
IMF.
The Glasgow Team observed that the major concern with the Bank in Nigeria is that it has announced funding for Carbon Capture and Storage, a controversial and unproven technology that claims to store carbon underground, to ‘help Nigeria reach its emissions targets’, despite criticisms that
this techno-fix reinforces fossil fuel dependence.
The Glasgow Team at the Press Conference tasked the World Bank to “stop using public money to bankroll dirty polluters.
“Sign the Glasgow Clean Energy statement before the next COP and leave fossil fuels in the ground.
“Close
loopholes allowing private lenders and asset managers to continue extracting and exploiting fossil fuels.
Similarly, the World Bank was asked to “align all policies, programmes and projects into a 1.5-degree roadmap with poverty alleviation at its heart. Prioritise investment in Global South renewable
energy projects, with civil society input, towards publicly owned, democratically controlled systems that serve the common good instead of private profit.
“Stop hoarding reserves and mobilise $1 trillion in new, genuinely green finance. Move away from an extractive model of financing towards delivering a just transition, through investments which benefit people on the poverty line instead of the 1%. Evaluate impact through the lens of sustainability, equity and justice. Actively champion an independent body to restructure sovereign debt.
“Raise ambitions so that half of all World Bank financing is on climate adaptation and mitigation, given the scale and urgency of the crisis. Candidates
for World Bank Leadership should be accountable and committed to scientific evidence”.
The Glasgow Action Team while pointing out that it is joining in the global call for system change at the World Bank, lamented the Bank’s failure to tackle climate change, says the Bank has come short and failed
to deliver for low-income countries.
This year’s World Habitat Day seeks to draw attention to the growing inequalities and vulnerabilities that have been exacerbated by the triple ‘C’ crises — COVID-19, Climate and Conflict, reason why the Glasgow Action Team converged to call on the World Bank to move from rhetoric to action, and reform its climate policy.
The World Bank was set up after World War Two to rebuild economies, with stated goals to end extreme poverty by 2030 and increase prosperity.
The Glasgow team however observed that since the Paris Agreement, the World Bank has provided $12 billion in direct project finance to fossil fuels projects in 35 countries, more than any other multilateral development bank, according to civil society estimates.
Other observation by the Glasgow Team was, ” The figures did not include billions more in support of fossil fuels through financial intermediaries. The team fingered biggest culprit being the commercial lending arm of the World Bank, the International Finance Corporation (IFC).
The team also observed that the false narrative that fossil fuels will bring prosperity is a harmful distraction from the
actual demands of Global South citizens, especially Africans, who want clean, community owned energy.
Other observation by the Glasgow Team was that harmful is the Net Zero lie that Big Polluters use to continue polluting while promising unrealistic tree planting schemes that could only feasibly lead to land grabs.
The Team lamented that the World Bank continues to invest in fossil fuels which are driving climate change, at the same time as
investing in trying to fix the problems caused by climate change, such as investing $10 million into reversing degradation of Lake Chad.