Climate Change is now a top priority for the World Bank.
Last week, one of the major global investors, the World Bank, announced that they will be making a “fundamental shift” in their investment strategy. Their new plan is to put money towards developing new technologies and encouraging practices for tackling climate change in the developing world.
To be more precise, the group has allocated 28% of its new investment to projects that deal with climate change. Under this new initiative called Climate Change Action Plan, the World Bank commits to help nations meet the agreements made at the climate conference in Paris (COP21).
According to the president of the World Bank, Jim Yong Kim, actions should be taken immediately. Climate change has the potential to severely affect our planet. Our future generations will be the victims, and therefore all efforts should be put towards easing developing countries into the transition to renewable energy, away from coal and emissions.
The key areas of investment are renewable energy, agriculture and food security, urban resilience and clean transportation. The target- all developing countries, who need help with implementing their climate strategies and plans. According to John Roome, World Bank’s director for climate change, if immediate action is not taken, in the coming 15 years it is very likely that millions of people in the developing world could be driven into extreme poverty.
Another member of the World Bank’s team, the president for Sustainable Development, Laura Tuck, adds that isolated actions will not be effective. In order for the plans to work, all sectors- energy, water, transportation, urban planing, risk management- should be stimulated at the same time.
The World Bank is known to have made some substantial investments in coal power stations, and other polluting sectors of the economy, however this will no longer continue at the same rate. Money would be put towards such businesses, only if they are helping in the transitions towards clean energy.
Image (c) UPI
