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Daphne Wysham: The World Bank Should Stop Funding Fossil Fuels

A World Bank report says a 4 degree centigrade warmer world would be environmentally catastrophic, so why won’t the Bank divest from fossil fuels?

Press Room

December 6, 2012

The World Bank recently released a report warning that, at current rates of carbon emissions, Earth is on track for a 4 degree centigrade rise by 2100. The report projects catastrophic environmental consequences—hitting poor communities the hardest—if we don't scale back on fossil fuels. Yet, as Daphne Wysham, a fellow at the Institute for Policy Studies and co-director of the Sustainable Energy and Economy Network, wrote for The Nation, the bank itself hasn’t made the committment to averting disaster. On Al Jazeera’s Inside Story Americas, Wysham points out that the World Bank is still investing a significant portion of its portfolio in fossil fuel projects. That won’t be enough, Wysham says: “Just stop funding the dirty stuff.”

Steven Hsieh

Read Daphne Wysham's piece on "Why the World Bank Must Divest from Fossil Fuels."

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