Thursday 8 October 2009

World Bank Talk Hypocritica






The World Bank at its best.
Earlier this week – the World Bank is investing heavily in coal, despite recently warning that climate change will cripple development efforts. Talk about hypocritical!
The bank has spent $5 billion over the past three years on fossil fuel projects.
The World Bank’s chief economist for sustainable development, Marianne Fay, defends this investment given that coal remains on of the cheapest and most stable energy sources available for the 1.6 billion people who currently lack electricity.
Straight from the horses mouth:
“There are a lot of poor countries which have coal reserves and for them it’s the only option. The [bank’s] policy is to continue funding coal to the extent that there is no alternative and to push for the most efficient coal plants possible. Frankly, it would be immoral at this stage to say, ‘We want to have clean hands, therefore we are not going to touch coal’.”
Sorry Marianne, “sustainable development” and coal simply don’t mix. I agree that we need to lift people out of poverty, but coal is not the way to do it.


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"when the voice of the people become so loud the government has no alternative but to listen" Martin Luther King Jnr.

John F. Kennedy once observed that “our problems are man-made, therefore they may be solved by man.”

1 comment:

  1. The world Bank needs to address how it is planning to Tranfer Technology and what kind of Technology. Coal????? what about alternatives that Negotiations are talking abt???

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