World Bank

Wed, 2011-09-21 14:06Farron Cousins
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Global Financial Leaders Recommend Cutting Fossil Fuel Subsidies

Global financial institutions including the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank have released a new set of recommendations for G20 countries to meet their goal of providing $100 billion a year in aid for developing nations to combat climate change. In addition to calls for charges on carbon emissions and higher prices for carbon-intensive fuels, the financial experts said the first source of funding should come from redirecting fossil fuel subsidies.

In a move that will surely leave the dirty energy industry in a fit of rage, global economists said that fossil fuel subsidies should be cut and redirected towards helping developing nations fight climate change. The total amount spent on industry subsidies for G20 countries is currently $60 billion a year, more than half of what the countries have pledged to spend per year on climate initiatives and renewable energy projects.

From The Huffington Post:
 

The draft paper says the starting point should be a review of fossil fuel subsidies, amounting to $40 billion to $60 billion a year. But many of those subsidies are handed out in poor countries, where people living on the edge of subsistence need help, for example, to buy cooking gas. Still, subsidy reforms in industrialized countries and emerging economies could contribute $10 billion a year to a climate fund, it said.
Sun, 2008-04-13 11:06Bill Miller
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DeSmogBlog reader's comment prods thinking on World Bank coal-plant loan

My post about the World Bank loaning India $450 million to build a new coal-fired power plant prompted a DeSmog reader to ask if I’m “against the idea of a plant that has less pollution than previous ones?”

I’m not opposed to a less-polluting plant. As a committed opponent of global warming and greenhouse-gas emissions, I’m certainly in favor of reducing pollution.

But the plant in question is going to be burning coal.

Thu, 2008-04-10 09:47Bill Miller
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World Bank group loans India $450 million for massive coal-power project

A press release says funding the huge Tata Power project will help to expand electricity use across five states in western and northern India. This is in keeping with the “higher energy use” sought under “the development goals of the Bank Group and our client countries.”

While the release did say the bank group will try “to balance these energy needs with concerns about climate change,” it also cautioned that “fossil fuels are likely to remain a key contributor to the world’s electricity needs.”

Uh-oh!

Tue, 2007-08-14 06:08Ross Gelbspan
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Wolfowitz Censored Bank References to Warming

The Bush administration has consistently thwarted efforts by the World Bank to include global warming in its calculations, according to documents made public through a watchdog. On one occasion, the White House's pointman at the bank, the now disgraced Paul Wolfowitz, personally intervened to remove the words "climate change" from the title of a bank progress report and ordered changes to the text of the report to shift the focus away from global warming.

Mon, 2007-04-16 10:35Ross Gelbspan
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G-8 To Cut Carbon Emissions? Don't Bank On It!

Germany has pushed the G-8 to set a tough target for reducing carbon emissions.

But environmentalists said the World Bank, which the G8 has asked to finance the shift away from carbon use in the developing world, was continuing to ramp up lending for oil and gas.

Tue, 2006-10-03 08:55Ross Gelbspan
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World Bank to W: There Is No Free Climate Lunch

Energy and environment ministers from the world's top 20 polluting nations are meeting in Mexico to consider the economic costs of climate change. Former World Bank chief economist Sir Nicholas Stern is expected to say rich nations must cut emissions immediately, and help developing nations adapt.

 

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