A new “evolution roadmap” seen by Reuters shows the World Bank is looking to vastly expand its lending capacity in an attempt to tackle climate change and “other global crises”. The World Bank will negotiate with shareholders ahead of meetings in April on proposals including a capital increase and new lending tools which form part of its new roadmap. The roadmap document marks the start of a negotiation process to alter the bank’s mission and financial resources, overhauling the country- and project-specific lending model it has used since its creation at the end of World War Two. A worrying build-up of lending for climate change, health care, food security and other needs may require a capital increase to boost the capacity of the World Bank’s middle-income lending arm, the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, according to the roadmap document. However, the environmental campaign group Friends of the Earth said the proposal did not go far enough. “A true evolutionary roadmap must commit to ending financing for fossil fuels, industrial animal agriculture, petrochemical infrastructure, corporate-friendly false solutions, and harmful activities in biodiverse areas,” according to Luisa Abbott Galvao, Senior International Policy Campaigner at Friends of the Earth.
Exclusive: World Bank seeks more funds to address climate change, other crises -document https://t.co/JjvTIyyQux
— Reuters Science News (@ReutersScience) January 3, 2023
