The World Bank’s lending for renewable energy and energy
efficiency projects increased by 300 percent between fiscal year
2007 and fiscal year 2010, to a record $3.4 billion. But over
that same period, lending to fossil fuel projects also jumped
430 percent. Recent loans for coal-fired power plants is
evidence to the fact that the World Bank is still in the
business of loaning money for massive construction projects with
the most favorable cost-benefit ratio -- with benefits measured
almost entirely in terms of economic benefits. “[The World Bank]
is constantly stalling on one very important policy: calculating
the greenhouse-gas emissions produced by its own projects,” said
Janet Redman , co-director of the Sustainable Energy and Economy
Network at the Institute for Policy Studies. “In its actions,
the World Bank has deviated from its rhetoric,” Redman said.
World Bank loans for fossil fuel projects topped $6.3 billion in
the fiscal year ending in June, $4.4 billion of which was for
the construction of new c