World Bank report urges climate-smart growth strategy

• 14 years ago (2010-02-13)
• David Flin

Renewables 777

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Acting World Bank Country Director Maryse Gautier said that reducing vulnerability to climate change impacts are among the key priorities in the World Bank’s new Country Assistance Strategy for 2010-2012. Gautier said that World Bank support to adaptation measures will be through a combination of technical assistance and lending operations supported by several global climate change facilities, including the Global Environmental Facility (GEF) and the Global Fund for Disaster Reduction and Recovery (GFDRR).

The GEF supports both climate change mitigation and adaptation activities, including the Philippine Climate Change Adaptation Project that will help develop and demonstrate climate change adaptation activities. The GFDRR provides technical assistance to enhance the development of disaster risk management and climate change strategies.

The emergence of new financing instruments – particularly the Carbon Partnership Facility and the Clean Technology Fund, a joint initiative of the World Bank, the International Finance Corporation and the Asian Development Bank – opens up the potential for developing broader mitigation programmes in areas such as sustainable transport, renewable energy and waste management, she explained. “Building on the experience of ongoing World Bank-supported projects such as geothermal, wind and wastewater projects, the World Bank will also support government programmes and projects in the power sector.”

The World Bank said that meeting the challenges of climate change cannot simply be a choice between economic growth and climate change, but will require climate smart policies that enhance development, reduce vulnerability and finance the transition to low-carbon growth paths. The report says that energy efficiency measures have the largest potential to save energy both on the energy supply side and the demand side. The second-largest source of emission reductions could come from low- to zero-emission fuels for power generation, particularly renewable energy.