https://thebreakthrough.org/issues/energy/world-bank-imf-shift-focus-from-poverty-to-climate-change
The World Bank and IMF Are Getting It Wrong on Climate Change https://foreignpolicy.com/2022/04/11/the-world-bank-and-imf-are-getting-it-wrong-on-climate-change/
Rich donor countries are working to deprioritize poverty reduction and economic development in the global south.
By Vijaya Ramachandran, the director for energy and development at the Breakthrough Institute, and Arthur Baker, an associate director at the University of Chicago’s Development Innovation Lab.
The shift of focus from poverty to climate is unjust, ineffective, and disastrous for the world’s poor. It’s unjust because rich countries are forcing the World Bank and IMF to deprioritize poverty reduction despite this mission being vital to protect developing countries from the climate shocks caused by rich countries’ emissions. It’s ineffective because poor countries make up only a tiny fraction of global emissions—and their share will remain small even if they were to grow rapidly using fossil fuels. And it will be a disaster for the 3 billion people struggling to escape misery because every dollar spent on the new carbon-reduction mission is a dollar that could instead go into education, medical services, food security, and critical infrastructure
In their zeal to reach emissions targets, rich countries are conflating two things, both of which are crucial to avoid the worst effects of climate change. Mitigation—the reduction of emissions—mostly needs to take place in rich and middle-income countries, which are responsible for the vast majority of carbon emissions. Adaptation—improving resilience to a warming climate—is lifesaving in poorer, more vulnerable countries. Adaptation requires investments in better housing, transportation, education, infrastructure, water management, agricultural technology, and other sectors. And it requires reducing poverty—so that more people have the resources to cope with weather-related extremes. Until now, these kinds of investments have been the bread and butter of the World Bank and other development institutions. By shifting development funding to emissions reduction, they are taking money from the poor and making them less resilient than they would otherwise be.
Prioritizing carbon mitigation over adaptation and poverty reduction in low- and lower-middle-income countries stands the relationship between climate change and development on its head.
The energy Africa needs to develop -- and fight climate change https://www.ted.com/talks/rose_m_mutiso_the_energy_africa_needs_to_develop_and_fight_climate_change?language=en " Everyone must get to a zero-carbon future. In the transition, Africa and other poor nations deserve to get the balance of what's remaining in the world's carbon budget. For economic competitiveness, for climate adaptation, for global stability and for economic justice, rich and high-emitting countries must uphold their responsibility to lead on decarbonization, starting in their own economies. We all have a collective responsibility to turn the tide on climate change. If we fail, it won't be because Senegal or Kenya or Benin or Mali decided to build a handful of natural gas power plants to provide economic opportunity for their people.
