The World Bank Group has announced it will retire its goal to devote 45% of its annual lending resources to projects with climate co-benefits. This decision comes after the bank had been under pressure from the Trump administration to abandon the climate lending target adopted during the Biden administration in 2023.
Shift in Focus
World Bank President Ajay Banga has shifted his focus to “smart development,” which aims to boost job opportunities while still providing climate-related benefits such as drought-resistant agriculture or storm-resistant infrastructure and renewable energy where appropriate.
The World Bank said that at the request of its executive board, the lender’s Independent Evaluation Group would perform a review of the Climate Change Action Plan (CCAP), which was first adopted in rolling five-year plans in 2016.
Executive directors including France and 18 other shareholding countries had signed a letter last October endorsing the bank’s continued work on climate change, but the largest shareholder, the United States, declined to sign, along with executive directors representing Russia, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, while India and Japan abstained.
Original reporting: Appleton, WI News Feed (HLL/CB) — read the source article.
