Despite the landmark Paris climate accord, the World Bank has been found to pump $14.8 billion into fossil fuel projects globally, a report compiled by NGO coalition The Big Shift Global said.
Although the multilateral lender pledged in 2018 to end financing for upstream oil and gas, and direct funding has declined, the move failed to include indirect financing.
“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.”
The report said the WB continued to fund fossil fuels 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.
Under the 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.
In response, the WB disputed the findings of the report, claiming that it made inaccurate assumptions about its lending.
However, a separate report by Oxfam said the WB “supplies very little evidence to support its claims about the amount of climate finance it provides,” leaving the public to take their figures “on faith.”
The interests of bankers rarely align with those of idealists and environmentalists, and as long as loopholes are available, it shouldn’t be a surprise for a practices such as this to continue. While we can urge the WB to close the loopholes that are currently being exploited so these dirty projects can be funded, the only way for the WB and other financial institutions to stop funding such ventures that are potentially harmful to the planet only if proponents and government policies also stop the development of power plants and pipelines that still depend on fossil fuels.
It takes all parties involved for loopholes to be exploited. If financial institutions like the World Bank are willing to do it, the Filipino government and private sector will have to firm in drawing the line when it comes to prioritizing the planet and its future.*
