The World Bank is (rightly) taking a lot of heat recently. Not just for the apparently improper role Bush backed World Bank President Wolfowitz had in getting a promotion for someone he was romantically involved with. There is that. As well as the World Bank's complicity in the destruction of our world's second largest rainforest (the Congo).
Really though, hypocrisy on climate change is the major charge of the day. Wolfowitz has said, "If you are living on the edge, climate change can push you over", and that the World Bank should "climate proof" its projects. But the World Bank’s spending on fossil fuels continues to dwarf its comparatively miniscule investments in sustainable renewable energy - a mere USD153 million in 2006.
The world needs an energy revolution to tackle climate change. Institutions like the World Bank need to put their money where their mouths are. At Greenpeace we're even naming a figure. It's estimated that fossil fuels get up to 300 billion a year in subsidies. That money's going to kill us. But if we invest that much in renewables it would be enough to keep our economic growth while cutting global warming emissions in half by 2050.