The consensus among officials gathered in Washington D.C. for the bank’s annual meeting was that the heat was off Malpass — for now.
David Malpass’ job as president of the World Bank appears safe despite calls for his ouster by climate advocates, but the recent controversy over his climate views may have helped ram through changes to help clean energy despite his resistance.
as a “climate denier.” Malpass later declined to answer onstage whether he believed fossil fuels were the primary driver of climate change, but has since sought to affirm his acceptance of climate science in public and internally with staff.broad calls of “fundamentally” reforming the World Bank The broad sweep of countries calling for change — and a weakened Malpass — appears to offer an opening to climate advocates for changes in the bank’s lending practices.
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen last week said the World Bank and other multilateral development banks must change their operations to address global challenges like climate change and offer more capital more cheaply to do that. That tone represented a “massive shift,” said E3G’s Healy. While the World Bank has not backed new coal-fired power plants for years, it has not formally halted support for fossil fuels, leading to skirmishes over how it finances gas. Several African nations want the World Bank to offer more gas finance,