World Bank/IMF Action Day: Just Clean Energy for a Livable Planet!
On the 80th anniversary of the Bretton Woods Institutions, activists rally and march to demand that the World Bank Group and the International Monetary Fund make deep changes to their ‘business as usual’ in the name of climate, human rights, economic and global justice.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Friday, October 25, 2024
Contact:
Denise Robbins, denise@glasgowactions.com, 608-320-6582
Dara Snead, dsnead@climatenetwork.org, +44 7356160136
Washington, DC—Today, at the height of the Annual Meetings of the World Bank Group and the International Monetary Fund, activists gathered at the World Bank headquarters to protest the Bank and Fund’s continued extractivist and market-first policy prescriptions. Groups from around the world called on these institutions to carry out true, transformational reforms, including ending all financing and support for fossil fuels and factory farms, canceling debt, increasing transparency, instituting a strong remedy system for when projects harm communities, abandoning the investor-state trade dispute system, ending austerity and market-first policy prescriptions, making their governance more equitable, and more.
Speakers from all corners of the world relayed their demands and the harms experienced by World Bank / IMF operations in their communities.
Aaron Pedrosa of Philippines Movement for Climate Justice (PMCJ) stated: “Despite 80 years of existence, the World Bank continues to be averse to remedy. Hence IFC, its private arm, has largely been unchecked for harms caused despite the existence of its own performance standards. IFC should not be allowed to continue funding death and destruction to communities and the environment. This is the message of the 19 communities across the Philippines hosting coal plants privately funded by the World Bank: stop funding fossil fuels, stop the harms, deliver remedies now!”
Ute Koczy, Senior Campaign Advisor at Urgewald, said: “The World Bank signed the Paris Agreement and yet it poured $17 billion into coal, oil and gas since then. We keep discovering new ways in which the Bank props up fossil fuels – like the $4.7 billion in trade finance it likely channeled to oil and gas in 2023 alone. Let’s put an end to this – transparency, accountability and just clean energy for a livable planet now!”
Anitha Sampath from the Centre for Financial Accountability in India, said: “As the Indian experience shows, increasing renewable energy capacity alone will not bring people out of poverty, improve energy access, or save nature. We need a just energy transition, which means no more damaging, extractive mega-scale solar or hydropower projects and false solutions like 'waste to energy' or 'green hydrogen'. Public finance should ensure a democratic energy system for all by keeping communities and the environment at the centre of energy transition.”
Novita Pratiwi, Energy Campaigner at Trend Asia, said: “One obstacle to the World Bank's commitment is coal funding through financial intermediaries. There are still loopholes in the commitment, as evidenced by the complaint filed with the CAO on the Java 9-10 instance. Every dollar spent on fossil fuels is a step back in our fight against climate change and the World Bank must stand by its commitment to a renewable energy future by ending all support for coal and fossil fuels through their financial intermediaries.”
Dozens of activists held massive banners and chanted in the streets and in front of the White House, including calling on President Biden to cement his climate legacy by committing more climate financing.
Andrew Nazdin, director of the Glasgow Actions Team, stated: “We have a choice — keep paying hundreds of billions of dollars each year for climate disasters until we’re broke, or we step up to the plate and pay our fair share to achieve climate stability for the world. In preparation for the UN conference in Baku, President Biden needs to prepare a team ready to negotiate a fossil fuel phaseout and a real climate finance deal that can fund a just transition. It's time for President Biden to cement his climate legacy.”
Sophie Richmond, Global Lead for Big Shift Global, said: “The World Bank talks about the need for a livable planet, yet they continue to push this planet to the brink of collapse. Just this week the UN has highlighted once again that it is crunch time for tackling global heating. The world can’t wait. The World Bank must stop financing fossil fuels and lead the way to a cleaner future.”
Alison Doig, Clean Energy Campaign Manager at Recourse, said: “For the World Bank to truly walk the talk of ending poverty on a liveable planet, it should be putting energy access needs before private sector profit. Public finance should be driving a just energy transition to a 100% renewable system which powers people and protects the planet.”
Shereen Talaat, Director, MenaFem Movement for Economic Development and Ecological Justice said: “The Global South, burdened by unjust debts and austerity measures, is disproportionately affected by the Bank and the Fund’s policies. Now, the climate crisis and war are added on top of the economic crisis. The Bretton Woods Institutions must immediately halt all direct and indirect financing for fossil fuels, including gas. By canceling unjust debts, prioritizing renewable energy but with a justice approach, and rejecting austerity policies that hinder climate action, they can empower nations to break free from fossil fuel dependency and build a sustainable future. It's imperative that the BWIs align their actions with the urgent need for climate justice, debt cancellation and a livable planet.”
Our 5 demands for the World Bank Group:
Stop funding fossils: End all direct and indirect finance for fossil fuels. Fossil gas cannot be an exception. It is often as polluting as coal, crowds out finance for renewable energy, all while failing to bring local development or energy access.
Debt cancellation: Recognising repaying unfair debts is how many countries are pushed into a cycle of reliance on fossil fuel extraction. Projects should not create further debt or lock countries into fossil fuels when they could be shifting to clean, sustainable renewable energy.
Commit to 1.5°C: Increase ambition and reassess the Bank’s Paris Alignment methodology to ensure actions are in line with a pathway keeping global warming to 1.5°C.
Fund solutions: Shifting finance from fossil fuels to sustainable renewable energy and a just transition that centers economic and development benefits for communities.
Democratic, accountable, and rights-upholding projects and governance: Develop and fund safeguards and democratic governance reforms to ensure investments do not recreate the many issues faced by communities affected by fossil fuel projects.
By the end of the year, the United Nations plans to determine a New Collective Quantified Goal (NCQG) to improve on the previously passed $100 billion to be sent in climate finance to developing countries. Activists criticize this amount as not nearly enough; the costs of Hurricane Helene and Hurricane Milton together cost about $100 billion alone.
The world is watching this week's meetings, which will influence NCQG and other important climate finance discussions later this year.
Learn more: https://worldbankactionday.org/
Organizations supporting this event include: Urgewald, Big Shift Global, Glasgow Actions Team, Recourse, Philippine Movement for Climate Justice, Centre for Financial Accountability (India), FARN (Argentina), Power Shift Africa, Indus Consortium (Pakistan), Trend Asia, Justiça Ambiental/Friends of the Earth Mozambique, SYND Ghana, and many more.
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