World Bank criticised over climate crisis spending
Oxfam research suggests up to 40% of bank’s reported climate-related spending cannot be accounted for.
The World Bank has come under fire for failing to show that its claimed spending on the climate crisis is real, in a report suggesting up to 40% of its reported climate-related spending is impossible to account for.
Of $17.2bn that the World Bank reported it spent on climate finance in 2020, up to $7bn cannot be independently verified, according to research by Oxfam.
The findings are the latest blow to the World Bank over its climate finance activities. Last month, the former US vice-president Al Gore led calls for the president of the bank, David Malpass, to resign after he avoided a journalist’s questions on climate science.
