The World Bank’s Shocking, Cautionary Tale on Climate Change
“Like the Ghost of Christmas Future, the World Bank has just provided us with a frightening glimpse into our world-to-be if, unlike Scrooge, we fail to change our ways.” (Source: Huffington Post)
The new World Bank report "Turn down the heat: why a 4°C warmer world must be avoided" stands in stark contrast to all fossil-fuel friendly policies of this and other international and national governance bodies. And the silence in the media about the coming Doha summit on climate change is deafening.
New World Bank report urges governments to go for inclusive green growth
"Inclusive green growth is the pathway to sustainable development. It is the only way to reconcile the rapid growth required to bring developing countries to the level of prosperity to which they aspire, meet the needs of the more than 1 billion people still living in poverty, and fulfill the global imperative of a better environment.” (Source: World Bank)
In the run-up to Rio+20, another "green growth" reports which remains locked into the myth of "delinking" and efficiency instead of seriously considering the need to question the nature of growth and the need for radical redistribution of wealth.
Read the full report and the executive summary.
For an excellent critique of this latest World Bank report, read French economist Jean-Marie Harribey’s analysis “Allô, la Banque mondiale ? Comment faites-vous la croissance verte ?” in Alternatives Economiques (in French). His conclusion: “Dans le cadre de la préparation de Rio+20, la Banque mondiale et l’OCDE notamment rivalisent d’imagination pour donner un prix à la nature, non pas tant pour mieux la préserver que pour la réduire à un capital comme un autre qu’il s’agira de rentabiliser. Valeur économique des écosystèmes et valeur économique des services que rendent ceux-ci sont devenues les leitmotivs de la recherche dans les cercles néolibéraux. Des valeurs que seul l’établissement de droits de propriété sur ce qui devrait être des biens communs, collectifs et publics[13] peut révéler. Allô, la Banque mondiale, vous êtes toujours là ? Non, ils ont raccroché.”
A World Bank for a New World
“A World Bank leader who once again comes from Wall Street or from US politics would be a heavy blow for a planet in need of creative solutions to complex development challenges. The Bank needs an accomplished professional who is ready to tackle the great challenges of sustainable development from day one.” (Source: Project Syndicate)
The replacement of Robert Zoellick at the helm of the World Bank is an opportunity to give the US-led institution a new direction according to Jeffrey Sachs in Project Syndicate.
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