World Bank commits billions for climate change

Washington (dpa) – The World Bank on Tuesday approved the creation of multi-billion-dollar global funds to help poor countries tackle global warming and boost investment in renewable technologies.

The Clean Technology Fund is expected to receive at least 5 billion dollars in pledges and will provide a combination of loans and grants to projects that reduce greenhouse-gas emissions blamed for global warming.

A separate and smaller Climate Investment Fund will conduct pilot projects to help developing countries deal with the likely impacts of climate change around the world.

The two funds mark the World Bank’s first direct foray into climate change financing. The bank’s President Robert Zoellick called them a “key element” of the global lender’s response to global warming, which has threatened the bank’s core goal of tackling poverty.

Bangkok Post