Everyone in the world is affected by climate change, but we are not all affected equally. It is the billions of the world’s poor who will suffer the most. It is this simple fact that is driving much of the work of the World Bank Group as we work with the international community to fashion responses to this complex global challenge.

With increasing climate fluctuations, the poorest countries of the world will suffer the earliest and most because of their geographical location, low incomes, and their heavy reliance on climatesensitive sectors such as agriculture. The impacts and socio-political consequences could also be devastating in water-scarce economies (such as those in the Middle East), and regions where we expect dramatic changes in water availability due to glacial melting (such as the Himalayas or the Andes).

In short, climate change has the potential to reverse much of the hard-earned progress made towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals, including the goals of eradicating poverty, combating communicable diseases, and achieving environmental sustainability.

We at the World Bank Group believe that tackling climate change is fundamental to development and the poverty reduction agenda. That is why we are actively pursuing greenhouse gas mitigation and adaptation efforts, embracing various technologies and resources, while at the same time promoting increased energy access as a cornerstone of poverty alleviation.

The figures are indisputable: hundreds of millions of poor people in developing countries have no access to electricity, or to cooking and heating fuels – a challenge that severely hinders economic growth and poverty reduction. In sub-Saharan Africa, some 550 million people – or nearly 75% of the population – cannot turn on an electric light in their homes – there is no electricity for them. In South Asia, that number is 700 million, or half the population. Meanwhile, nearly 2.5 billion people worldwide use traditional biomass fuels for cooking and heating.

Simply getting electricity and heating services to those, and other, deprived people in developing countries would require an estimated annual investment of $165 billion, increasing at about 3% per year from 2010 through to 2030. For that energy to be as clean or green as possible, the annual investment would be $40 billion more. Today, less than half of that amount is readily identifiable.

The international community realizes the need to scale up work on climate change, while at the same time ensuring increased energy access in poor countries. The World Bank Group is doing its share. With a mandate from the G-8 Summit at Gleneagles in 2005, we worked with other multilateral development banks to formulate the Clean Energy Investment Framework (CEIF), together with an Action Plan. The CEIF focuses on: (a) meeting the electricity needs of developing countries and widening access to electricity services in an environmentally responsible way; (b) reducing greenhouse gas emissions and speeding the transition to a low-carbon economy; and (c) helping developing countries adapt to climate change risks. In Africa alone, the CEIF led to a remarkable increase in our own energy lending, from $1.4 billion for fiscal years 2003-05 to $2.4 billion for 2006-08.

In terms of investments and lending for low-carbon energy, the Bank Group has consistently surpassed commitments made at the Bonn International Renewable Energies Conference of June 2004. From June 2004 to December 2007, we committed about $2.5 billion for new renewable energy (including solar, wind, geothermal, biomass and hydro up to 10MW). We also manage a global carbon finance portfolio of about $2 billion, in partnership with several governments and the private sector, while support for socially and environmentally responsible hydropower has also risen.

With the help of the Global Environment Facility, and other donor financing, the Bank Group is supporting projects to commercialise a new generation of less expensive clean energy technologies. These will respond to the needs of developing countries, for instance by concentrating solar power plants in Morocco and Egypt and grid-connected solar photovoltaic in the Philippines. In total, 40% of all Bank energy investments are now low-carbon – an all-time high.

Building on the analyses and directions of the CEIF, we are now developing a Strategic Framework for Climate Change and Development. It aims to outline how we can support developing countries in their efforts to adapt to climate change and achieve low-carbon energy growth while, at the same time, maintaining a focus on the core mission of eliminating poverty. We have also engaged in a ‘Bali Process’ with ministers of finance and development, using the Bank- IMF meetings twice a year to continue a dialogue on climate action in the context of economic and development policy.

Analytical tools and increased information sharing are critical to achieve low-cost mitigation initiatives. At the moment, we are working with six countries (China, India, Brazil, South Africa, Mexico, and Indonesia) on low-carbon case studies. The aim is to identify cost-effective growth paths for major emerging economies which reconcile rapid growth and rising energy consumption with the need for climate change mitigation. These case studies will inform the lending programme and policy dialogue with our clients.

This is a lot, but is it enough? Faced with an enormous and complex challenge, one never before seen by humans, there is never ‘enough’ being done. We are convinced, however, that combating poverty, contributing to economic growth, and mitigating climate change are not mutually exclusive. With collective action, with all partners in the international community co-operating to improve financing, share knowledge better, and adopt advanced technologies faster, we can rise to this double challenge – fighting poverty and fighting climate change for the poor of the world. We owe them no less.

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