18 november 2000
memo to world bank: friends of the earth
international are demanding that the world
bank phase out support for fossil fuel and
mining projects which are damaging efforts to
make progress at cop6
Today FoEI Chairman Ricardo Navarro is
calling for the World Bank to declare a
moratorium on all such investments.
World Bank representatives are in the
Hague, promoting their rototype carbon fund
(PCF) and trying to present an image of the
Bank as acting on climate change. The PCF
totals only about $180 million, compared to
the billions the Bank spends every year on
fossil fuel projects. FoEI will be releasing
a summary of its position paper at COP6
calling for this phase out of fossil fuel and
mining projects. Business As Usual funds for
fossil fuels are not needed. What is needed
at COP6 is new and additional funds from
developed to developing countries for
environmentally sustainable technology
transfer.
New studies indicate that any efforts to
reduce greenhouse gas emissions pursuant to
the Kyoto Protocol Clean Development
Mechanism will be dwarfed by International
Financial Institution investments in fossil
fuels that lock developed and developing
countries into long term fossil fuel
dependence. A copy of this report will be
made available as well by the Institute for
Policy Studies.
FoEI Chairman Ricardo Navarro has recently
written to the World Bank President James
Wolfensohn, after a September meeting in
Prague where Mr. Navarro handed Mr.
Wolfensohn a position paper calling for World
Bank phase out of support for fossil fuel and
mining projects, and increased investment in
renewable energy and energy efficiency that
meets the World Bank mission of overty
alleviation. Mr. Wolfensohn responded: "We
can stand back and take a look at the
actualities of these extractive industries,
the pros, the cons, the pluses, the minuses,
and see if together we can come up with
something that will either lead to an
exclusion or to an inclusion on certain terms
of what we are doing."
World Bank projects like oil extraction
and coal mining are often devastating to
biodiversity, local communities and
indigenous peoples and do not meet the Bank
stated mission of poverty alleviation. These
investments will result in billions of tons
of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere
unaccounted for under the Framework
Convention on Climate Change.
Commenting, FoEI Chairman Ricardo Navarro
said:
"While Governments work round the clock at
the Hague to agree on greenhouse gas
reductions, the World Bank is busy
promoting dangerous climate change. This
hurts the impoverished the most. Mr.
Wolfensohn must meet his Prague pledge and
a good first step is an immediate
moratorium on fossil fuel and mining
projects."
For further infomation please contact:
Ian Willmore 0044 7887 641344 (FoEI)
World Bank Expert: Jon Sohn 06 15 570 940
(FoE US)
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