Bank wrestling for control of climate finance

November 20th., by Bretton Woods Project 

With much awaited climate talks in Copenhagen in December, the World Bank and its supporters are positioning the institution to play a significant, if not dominant, role in future climate finance.

While interim UN climate negotiation meetings took place in Bangkok in October, senior Bank officials at the Bank's annual meetings in Istanbul emphasised that they would wait to see the outcome of the Copenhagen climate talks to decide what role the Bank would play.

However, in a panel discussion, Michele de Nevers, senior manager of the Bank's environment group, asserted that the institution is best placed to manage climate finance because of its ability to leverage funding and its strong fiduciary, procurement and safeguard policies.