By Rodney Reynolds
NEW YORK | 17 October 2024 (IDN) — Up to $41 billion in World Bank climate finance—nearly 40 percent of all climate funds disbursed by the Bank over the past seven years— is unaccounted for due to poor record-keeping practices, reveals a new Oxfam report published ahead of the World Bank and IMF Annual Meetings in Washington D.C., October 21-26.
An Oxfam audit of the World Bank’s 2017-2023 climate finance portfolio found that between $24 billion and $41 billion in climate finance went unaccounted for between the time projects were approved and when they closed.
There is no clear public record showing where this money went or how it was used, which makes any assessment of its impacts impossible. It also remains unclear whether these funds were even spent on climate-related initiatives intended to help low- and middle-income countries protect people from the impacts of the climate crisis and invest in clean energy.
Kate Donald, Head of Oxfam International’s Washinton DC office, said: “The Bank is quick to brag about its climate finance billions—but these numbers are based on what it plans to spend, not on what it actually spends once a project gets rolling. This is like asking your doctor to assess your diet only by looking at your grocery list, without ever checking what actually ends up in your fridge.”
The Bank is the largest multilateral provider of climate finance, accounting for 52 percent of the total flow from all multilateral development banks combined.
The issue of climate finance will take center stage at this year’s COP 29 in Azerbaijan (November 11-22), where countries are set to negotiate a new global climate finance goal, the New Collective Quantified Goal (NCQG).
Climate activists are demanding the Global North provide at least $5 trillion a year in public finance to the Global South “as a down payment towards their climate debt” to the countries, people and communities of the Global South who are the least responsible for climate breakdown but are the most affected.
Oxfam warns that the lack of traceable spending could undermine trust in global climate finance efforts at this critical juncture.
“Climate finance is scarce, and yes, we know it’s hard to deliver. But not tracking how or where the money actually gets spent? That’s not just some bureaucratic oversight —it’s a fundamental breach of trust that risks derailing the progress we need to make at COP this year. The Bank needs to act like our future depends on tackling the climate crisis, because it does,” said Donald.
Oxfam’s investigation revealed that obtaining even basic information on how the World Bank is using climate finance was painstaking and difficult.
“We had to sift through layers of complex and incomplete reports, and even then, the data was full of gaps and inconsistencies. The fact that this information is so hard to access and understand is alarming —it shouldn’t take a team of professional researchers to figure out how billions of dollars meant for climate action are being spent”.
“This should be transparent and accessible to everyone, most importantly communities who are meant to benefit from climate finance,” said Donald.
Climate Action Network International has called on the governments in the Global North to pay up $5 trillion annually as a down payment towards their climate debt. [IDN-InDepthNews]
Image: A livable climate is the best investment. Source: UN