Published on Friday, April 11, 2008 by Inter Press Service
World Bank “Playing Both Sides of Climate Crisis”
By Haider Rizvi
NEW YORK - A new study released by an independent policy think tank casts further doubts on the World Bank’s ability to stay neutral in the global politics of climate change.
“It is making money off of causing the climate crisis and then turning around and claiming to solve it,” charged Janet Redman, the study’s lead author and a researcher at the Institute for Policy Studies. In releasing the 79-page report Thursday, Redman described the World Bank’s role in the so-called carbon markets as “dangerously counterproductive” to international efforts to tackle climate change. Carbon markets refer to commercial aspects of environmental responsibility, in which energy companies can either agree to cut carbon emissions or buy the right to keep polluting. The report, entitled “World Bank: Climate Profiteer”, shows that instead of encouraging clean energy investors, the bank is lending much of its financial support to the fossil fuel industry. “It’s playing both sides of the climate crisis,” said Redman, noting that in just past two years the bank loaned no less than 1.5 billion dollars to companies investing in fossil fuels. The scientific community has repeatedly warned that drastic reduction in the use of oil, gas, and coal is a must to avoid the catastrophic effects of climate change.
The bank claims it is an “honest broker” of carbon deals, but the study’s authors say their findings do not validate that assertion. Read article ...
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=41943
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