Email the World Bank Shareholders

Tell the World Bank to take urgent, decisive action to end all finance for fossil fuels including gas and ensure a sustainable, clean energy future for all.

As World Bank leaders and shareholders meet for the Spring Meetings, join us in demanding that the Bank:

ends all finance for fossil fuels including gas
publishes how it will align all finance with the Paris Agreement
scales up debt-free finance and policy support for renewable energy to ensure energy access.

Dear President Malpass and World Bank Executive Directors,

According to overwhelming scientific consensus, the window of opportunity to avert catastrophic climate change is rapidly closing. The World Bank must take urgent and decisive action to end all finance for fossil fuels including fossil gas and ensure just transition to a sustainable, clean energy future for all. This must represent a serious step change in action given the Bank has recently been singled out for its lack of action on climate change.

The energy crisis in Europe and the war in Ukraine have demonstrated that dependence on fossil fuels and locking people into gas is not a viable solution to ‘energy security,’. On the contrary, it is causing the highest levels of inflation in nearly 30 years, squeezing people’s budgets with skyrocketing energy bills and fuelling an ever-increasing food price crisis. We can no longer pretend that fossil fuels are a solution to energy poverty: this needs to be our final wake up call to accelerate a just transition away from fossil fuels.

The IPCC report launched on the 28th February provides a stark warning of the urgency and the serious threat from the climate crisis. It makes clear the need to act now with decisive emissions cuts of greenhouse gases to avoid catastrophe. Impacts are already being felt across the globe, particularly in the global South and by historically marginalised populations. The report also outlines how climate change is projected to increase the number of people in extreme poverty from 32 million to 132 million by 2030. The World Bank cannot reach its objective of ending extreme poverty within a generation without making a just energy transition central to its programs.

Numerous studies have shown that any new investment in fossil fuels will end the chance for reaching the 1.5C target of the Paris Agreement. The UN Secretary General recently stated: “Fossil fuels are a dead end — for our planet, for humanity and for economies. A prompt, well-managed transition to renewables is the only pathway to energy security, universal access & the green jobs our world needs.”

At COP26, 39 countries and institutions made a commitment to end international public finance for unabated oil, gas, and coal by the end of 2022. The World Bank should join this group to end finance for fossil fuels and add its signature to the statement.

Currently, the World Bank Group has not laid out in clear terms how it will act urgently to respond to the climate crisis and the need for rapid decarbonisation. The World Bank’s Climate Change Action Plan for 2021-25 published last year does not make it clear how it will deal with fossil gas projects or the ongoing indirect funding of coal, oil and gas provided through the World Bank’s development policy finance instrument and IFC’s lending to financial intermediaries.

<p>For the WBG to fulfil its commitment to become Paris-aligned there is no space for any further funding of fossil fuels. A recent report highlighted how at least $132 billion in investment in fossil fuel projects is locking Africa out of a just transition. This includes investment in fossil gas, which should not be considered a bridge fuel. Gas is not needed, as renewable-based alternatives for most of its uses are either already cheaper or are expected to be within a few years.

I call on the World Bank to deliver the following urgent response to tackle the ongoing climate crisis:

•	The World Bank Group must make a whole-of-institution commitment to end all finance for fossil fuels.

•	The Bank should sign the Glasgow Statement on International Public Support for the Clean Energy Transition before COP27 (noting this must be implemented robustly without loopholes for gas or CCUS).

•	The Bank’s Climate Change Action Plan says the Bank will assess future gas plans for Paris alignment. The Bank must publish the criteria on how it will conduct these assessments going forward.

•	 The Bank must rapidly scale up debt-free finance and policy support for renewable energy, energy efficiency, and energy access in the most climate-vulnerable countries. This should include dedicated support for the implementation of just transition plans developed with workers and communities.

The WBG has a significant role to play to set an example for other public and private finance to follow to end all finance for fossil fuels, accelerate a just transition and ensure safe, sustainable, renewable energy access for all.

Yours sincerely,

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