Beginning of the end - fossil fuels

In response to the evolving technological landscape and the growing threat posed by climate change the World Bank is ending their financial support for both oil and gas exploration. After 2019 the company will no longer finance upstream oil and gas projects, with the exception of certain gas projects in the poorer parts of the world. The Greenpeace International climate campaigner Gyorgy Dallos said: “The end is clearly coming for the oil and gas industry as the pace of change accelerates.” Dallos said the Bank had sent a damning vote of no confidence in the future of the fossil fuel industry. “The world’s financial institutions now need to take note and decide whether their financing is going to be part of the problem or the solution,” he said. The announcement was made at the One Planet Summit convened by President Emmanuel Macron of France, and World Bank Group President Jim Yong Kim. In a statement that delighted campaigners, the Bank announced that, “as a global multilateral development institution, the World Bank Group is continuing to transform its own operations in recognition of a rapidly changing world.” “Starting from next year, the World Bank Group 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.”