Want $1 Trillion Mobilised For Renewable Energy Projects, Programmes
A group of climate activists has called on the World Bank to reform its climate policy, and do away with funding fossil fuels and projects linked to it.

The activists, under the group, Glasgow Team, comprising Jonah Gbemre, Murphy Akiri and Jake Hess, maintained that the World Bank must be forward looking by genuinely helping to reduce carbon emissions by shifting financing from fossil fuels to renewables, aside from helping to ensure that new infrastructure benefits local communities and prepares workforces to operate a clean economy.

In a statement, yesterday, Hess, who addressed a press conference on behalf of the group, stated that the World Bank should stop using public money to bankroll dirty polluters, rather it should sign the Glasgow Clean Energy statement before the next COP and leave fossil fuels in the ground.

The group also demanded that the World Bank should close loopholes allowing private lenders and asset managers to continue extracting and exploiting fossil fuels, calling on the bank to stop hoarding reserves and mobilise $1 trillion in new, genuinely green finance.

The activists also wanted the World Bank to “align all policies, programmes and projects into a 1.5-degree roadmap with poverty alleviation at its heart. Prioritise investment in Global South renewable energy projects, with civil society input, toward publicly owned, democratically controlled systems that serve the common good instead of private profit.

“Move away from an extractive model of financing towards delivering a just transition, through investments which benefit people on the poverty line instead of the 1%. Evaluate impact through the lens of sustainability, equity and justice.
Actively champion an independent body to restructure sovereign debt.

“Raise ambitions so that half of all World Bank financing is on climate adaptation and mitigation, given the scale and urgency of the crisis. Candidates for World Bank leadership should be accountable and committed to scientific evidence.”