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Environmentalists slam World Bank's clean energy 'failure' LONDON (AFP) Oct 31, 2005 International environmental pressure group Friends of the Earth (FoE) slammed the World Bank on Tuesday for failing to play an effective leadership role on climate change and renewable energy. The report comes as energy and environment ministers from the Group of Eight leading industrialised nations and their colleagues from such nations as China and India thrash out their climate change strategy and ways of developing sustainable clean energy sources later in London. The Washington-based World Bank, which provides finance to states for poverty alleviation and development purposes, has been tapped by the G8 as a key player in funding renewable energy sources. But FoE laid into the institution for failing to meet its already existing targets for increasing financial support for such projects. Despite a commitment to boost funding by 20 percent annually over the next five years, the World Bank increased funding by seven percent, or 14 million dollars (11.7 million euros) in the fiscal year 2005, FoE found. FoE said the World Bank's renewable and efficiency financing for the fiscal year 2005 represents just nine percent of all its financing in the energy sector. Meanwhile, the Bank continues to finance fossil fuel pipelines and is considering funding "destructive" large dams for energy generation in developing countries, the pressure group added. David Waskow, International Program Director of Friends of the Earth US, said: "Renewable energy projects provide a tremendous opportunity to curb climate change, while also promoting development and addressing poverty. "But the World Bank's portrayal of itself as a key leader on renewable energy globally is seriously misleading. "The London meeting should not be another opportunity for governments and the World Bank just to talk. We need serious outcomes in real negotiations, not just more hot air." Britain holds the G8 presidency this year and hosted a summit of its leaders at the Gleneagles resort in Scotland in July. In response to the summit's recommendations, the World Bank launched its Energy Investment Framework for clean energy and sustainable development in September. British environment minister Margaret Beckett, who chairs Tuesday's meeting, said the World Bank's Energy Investment Framework, launched in September, would be used to pilot large-scale investment in major projects, such as power generation and transport systems in developing countries. The Framework was to include the regional development banks, private sector banks, insurers and technology companies. Elizabeth Bast, one of the FoE report's authors, added: "The Bank will have to make immediate and aggressive changes to dramatically increase its renewable energy and energy efficiency lending if it hopes to have any impact on climate change before it is too late for developing countries." All rights reserved. copyright 2018 Agence France-Presse. Sections of the information displayed on this page (dispatches, photographs, logos) are protected by intellectual property rights owned by Agence France-Presse. As a consequence, you may not copy, reproduce, modify, transmit, publish, display or in any way commercially exploit any of the content of this section without the prior written consent of Agence France-Presse.
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