World Bank rallies $25b to fight climate change in developing countries

THE World Bank has promised to mobilise 25 billion dollars in private financing for clean energy by 2020 to fight climate change in developing countries.

This is contained in a Climate Change Action Plan, released by the bank in Washington, US, with a promise to add 30 gigawatts of renewable energy to the world’s energy capacity.

Jim Kim, World Bank Group President said the plan was designed to help countries meet their Paris COP21 pledges and manage increasing climate impacts.

He disclosed that to complement the World Bank’s efforts, the International Finance Corporation, a member of the World Bank Group, promised to expand its climate investments from the current 2.2 billion dollars a year to a goal of 3.5 billion dollars a year.

Kim said it would also lead on leveraging an additional 13 billion dollars a year in private sector financing by 2020.

The president, said under the plan, the Bank would quadruple funding for climate-resilient transport and integrate climate into urban planning through the Global Platform for Sustainable Cities.

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He said it would also boost assistance for sustainable forest and fisheries management.
Kim said this has become imperative because climate change threatened to drive 100 million more people into poverty in the next 15 years.

“Following the Paris climate agreement, we must now take bold action to protect our planet for future generations.

The president said the bank is moving urgently to help countries make major transitions to increase sources of renewable energy and decrease high-carbon energy sources.
Kim said it would also include developing green transport systems, building sustainable and liveable cities for growing urban populations.