The World Bank says it will no longer finance upstream oil and gas after 2019 in efforts to align its support to countries to meet their Paris goals.
It came at the One Planet Summit convened by President Emmanuel Macron of France, United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres, and World Bank Group President Jim Yong Kim.
Despite its announcement, the bank will make exceptions for upstream gas in the “poorest countries where there is a clear benefit in terms of energy access for the poor and the project fits within the countries’ Paris Agreement commitments”.
The bank will also ramp up its climate ambition through its Climate Change Action Plan.
It says it is on track to meet its target of 28% of its lending going to climate action by 2020 and to meeting the goals of its Climate Change Action Plan – developed following the Paris Agreement.
The bank says it is working to ensure that climate accountability is mainstreamed throughout its operations.
Starting next year, it will report greenhouse gas emissions from the investment projects it finances in key emissions-producing sectors, such as energy. The results will be published in late 2018, and annually thereafter.
It will also apply a shadow price on carbon in the economic analysis of all projects in key high-emitting sectors where design has begun since July 2017.
In addition, the World Bank will mobilise finance for transformation in mitigation and climate resilience.
And it will be working with partners to deepen climate action.
