Resources

Ce rapport présente une analyse critique d’un instrument de prêt de la Banque mondiale à l’importance croissante – le financement à l’appui des politiques de développement (DPF).

Recourse, with Action Solidaire International (Senegal), Don’t Gas Africa and Big Shift Global have carried out a deep dive into the World Bank’s Paris alignment sector note for Development Policy Finance (DPF).

In a recent interview the President of the EBRD, stated “We must engage with the fossil fuel industry to meet the methane pledge”.  Reducing methane emissions from the energy sector is important for keeping global temperature rise within 1.5°C, but ending methane emissions from this sector should be the urgent focus.

Big Shift Global letter to the Financial Times - Published 1 Nov 2023

As new President Ajay Banga addresses his first Annual Meetings he faces urgent calls to clean up the World Bank from those suffering the worst climate impacts. The World Bank has invested more than USD$15bn into fossil fuels since the Paris Agreement.

The International Finance Corporation (IFC) still has a fossil fuel addiction. This report from Recourse and partners, on IFC investments via financial intermediaries, finds that IFC clients are still funding new coal and are heavily exposed to oil and gas. 

An infographic briefing highlighting why the World Bank must stop funding fossil gas. This briefing is published by Recourse in conjunction with Big Shift Global and other partners.

Will the World Bank Group support a sustainable renewable energy transition in Bangladesh?

The World Bank and its private sector arm, the International Finance Corporation (IFC) have substantially supported the development of fossil gas and LNG infrastructure in Bangladesh.

How World Bank Group’s support for fossil gas has impeded the renewable energy transition.

This case study by Recourse and partners highlights why the World Bank and the IFC must support the Government of Pakistan to look to its own indigenous, sustainable and renewable sources and stop investing in costly imports and fossil fuel infrastructure.

This report examines MDB spending on fossil fuels and renewable energy projects in 2020. Whilst it shows an increase in spending on renewable energy and a drop in financing for fossil fuels in the period 2018-2020 , more than $3 billion was still directed by MDBs to fossil fuel projects in 2020 alone. 

Public and development banks have an obligation to align their own bank activities with the Paris Agreement, in addition to a broader responsibility to transform economies toward alignment with the Paris Agreement.

This report by Oil Change International and Friends of the Earth US finds that since the Paris Agreement, G20 countries have acted directly counter to it by providing at least USD 77 billion a year in finance for oil, gas, and coal projects through their public finance institutions. 

This report ranks the policies of the major MDBs against the Big Shift aims of shifting all finance out of fossil fuels and into sustainable renewable energy for energy access. Whilst some Banks are doing better than others, and some have the potential to be real leaders, all the MDBs need to be taking much bigger action to achieve their goals of stopping climate change and ending poverty.

G7 countries are in the early stages of an energy transition – including, in some areas, a shift away from the production and consumption of fossil fuels. In acknowledgement of this, every year since 2009 the G7, and G20, have committed to phase-out fossil fuel subsidies, along with related commitments under the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the Paris Agreement.

This report from Bank Information Center Europe, Centre for Research on Multinational Corporations, and Inclusive Development International looks at the recent AIIB investment in the IFC Emerging Asia Fund - a financial intermediary - and its sub-investment in the Shwe Taung Cement Company in Myanmar towards the expansion of a cement plant and associated coal mine.

This report by Tearfund examines the role of multinational development banks in redesigning electricity markets to scale up finance for off-grid renewable energy. This paper explores the idea that subsidies and cross-subsidies could be used to improve the viability of electricity access investments in more remote regions, and highlights the role that MDBs have to play in developi

This report from Bank Information Center Europe and Inclusive Development International argues that the AIIB has an opportunity to assume leadership amongst the MDBs in promoting low carbon development. It provides recommendations on how the AIIB can live up to its promises to be “green” and to its stated commitment to the Paris Agreement and the Sustainable Development Goals.

This document by the Swedish Society for Nature Conservation and BIC Europe examines the degree to which the WBG’s Climate Change Action Plan (CCAP) effectively addresses the dual objective of increasing energy access for the poor while meeting the goals of the Paris Climate Agreement.

Under the Paris Agreement, European governments and the European Union are committed to a low-carbon transition. However, this study shows that governments in Europe and the EU continue to subsidise a reliance on oil, gas and coal, fuelling dangerous climate change with taxpayers’ money both at home and abroad, and this may be stalling Europe's energy transition. 

This report by Oil Change International, Friends of the Earth U.S., and WWF’s European Policy Office reveals how export credit agencies around the world are funding climate disaster by financing over $32 billion dollars each year in coal, oil, and gas projects.

A report by Both ENDS concludes that the Dutch Export credit agency Atradius DSB, which provides export insurances on behalf of the Dutch state, insured fossil fuel-related projects with a total value of € 7.3 billion in the period 2012-2015. This is two-thirds of its total insured value for that same period.

This report from Inclusive Development International, Bank Information Center Europe, and Center for Financial Accountability highlights the role of the World Bank and international investors in financing the Rampal Power Plant, and highlights the significant risks associated with this project.

This report from Inclusive Development International demonstrates how the IFC is funding coal through support for commercial banks and private equity funds. According to this research, IFC-supported financial institutions have funded at least 41 new coal projects – either the facilities directly or the companies that own them – since the World Bank announced its coal ban in 2013.