• About
    • Which Energy Mix is this?
  • Climate News Network Archive
  • Contact
The climate news that makes a difference.
No Result
View All Result
The Energy Mix
  • Canada
  • Fossil Fuels
  • Ending Emissions
  • Cities & Communities
  • Electric Mobility
  • Heat & Power
  • Community Climate Finance
SUBSCRIBE
DONATE
  • Canada
  • Fossil Fuels
  • Ending Emissions
  • Cities & Communities
  • Electric Mobility
  • Heat & Power
  • Community Climate Finance
SUBSCRIBE
DONATE
No Result
View All Result
The Energy Mix
No Result
View All Result
  • Canada
  • Fossil Fuels
  • Ending Emissions
  • Cities & Communities
  • Electric Mobility
  • Heat & Power
  • Community Climate Finance
  FEATURED
BREAKING: Don’t Attend COP 28 Unless You’re There to Help, Figueres Tells Oil and Gas September 21, 2023
Thorold Gas Peaker Plant Won’t Be Built After Unanimous City Council Vote September 20, 2023
Indoor Heat Leaves Canadians Unsafe with ‘No Escape’, CBC Investigation Finds September 20, 2023
Agrivoltaics a Win-Win for Farmers, Communities, Solar Developers, and Alberta’s UCP September 20, 2023
‘Beginning of the End’ for Oil and Gas as IEA Predicts Pre-2030 Peak September 19, 2023
Next
Prev

U.S. Pushes to Dump Climate Denier Malpass as World Bank Head

September 25, 2022
Reading time: 4 minutes
Full Story: The Nation @thenation with file from The Energy Mix
Primary Author: Mark Hertsgaard @markhertsgaard

Victorgrigas/wikimedia commons

Victorgrigas/wikimedia commons

2
SHARES
 

John Kerry, the United States special presidential envoy for climate, signaled last Tuesday that the Biden administration is working behind the scenes to remove the president of the World Bank, Trump appointee David Malpass. Kerry’s comments came hours after Al Gore, the former U.S. vice president and longtime climate activist, called Malpass “a climate denier” and called on President Joe Biden “to get rid of” him and “put new leadership in” at the world’s largest development bank.

Kerry and Gore were speaking at an event hosted by The New York Times as part of Climate Week NYC, an annual series of public events coinciding with the United Nations General Assembly that aims to galvanize climate action. Malpass, appearing separately from Kerry and Gore at the event, called Gore’s call for his removal “very odd.” On stage, Malpass was asked three times whether he “accepted the scientific consensus that the man-made burning of fossil fuels is rapidly and dangerously warming the planet.” Each time, the World Bank president declined to answer before finally saying, “I don’t even know, and I’m not a scientist.”

  • Be among the first to read The Energy Mix Weekender
  • A brand new weekly digest containing exclusive and essential climate stories from around the world.
  • The Weekender:The climate news you need.
Subscribe

Climate journalist David Gelles documented that exchange, prompting former UN climate secretary Christiana Figueres to respond: “It’s simple. If you don’t understand the threat of #climatechange to developing countries you cannot lead the world’s top international development institution.”

“We need to get a new head of the World Bank, for god’s sake,” Gore told the live audience while answering questions from Somini Sengupta, the Times’ international climate correspondent. In a heated tone, Gore said that “it’s ridiculous to have a climate denier at the head of the World Bank” at a time when poorer countries need affordable loans to install solar and wind facilities rather than burning more coal and other fossil fuels.

“If you’re in Nigeria and you want to privately finance a new solar farm,” Gore explained, “you have to pay an interest rate seven times higher than what the OECD [i.e. wealthy] countries pay. If you want to build a wind farm in Brazil, you have to pay interest three times higher than what the U.S. pays.” With 90% of future heat-trapping emissions projected to come from developing countries, such unaffordable interest rates imperil the Paris agreement goal of limiting temperature rise to 1.5°C, as scientists say is imperative to avoid the worst impacts of climate change.

Providing loans at more favourable interest rates is “the job of the World Bank, and they’re simply not doing it,” Gore said. “We need to get rid of that leadership and put new leadership in, and I hope President Biden will take that initial step.”

“We will hear from the World Bank president later [today],” Sengupta said.

“Good! Tell him I said hello,” Gore replied, provoking chuckles from the audience.

“Actually, tell him I said goodbye,” Gore added as the chuckles turned into laughter.

Appearing hours later on the same stage, Kerry made it clear the Biden administration shares Gore’s displeasure with Malpass, whom Trump nominated to head the World Bank in 2019. Formerly the chief economist at Bear Stearns, an investment bank that collapsed during the 2008 financial crisis, Malpass was an economic adviser to Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign and later served as President Trump’s undersecretary for international affairs at the Treasury.

Posing a question from the audience, this reporter told Kerry that his former Senate colleague Gore had called on the Biden administration to get Malpass removed before asking Kerry, “Does the administration have confidence in David Malpass as the head of the World Bank?”

“I can’t comment on what the status is of an individual, that is the president’s decision,” Kerry replied. “I will tell you this, though. I have been pushing for months, along with others in the administration, and it’s an open door, not pushing against a shut door…. Earlier today in a meeting we had with a big group of nations talking about development, we made it crystal clear that we need to have major reform and a major restructuring with respect to the multinational development banks.”

Kerry added that the African Development Bank now allocates about 67% of its lending to climate, and that the Asia Development Bank is “doing pretty well,” as is the European Development Bank. Notably missing from his list was the World Bank, an absence Kerry alluded to when he added, “If I keep going, you will get a feel for where I am.” Again, laughter rippled through the crowd.

The United States cannot unilaterally remove Malpass; the World Bank’s governing board has the sole authority to select and remove the bank’s president. But Kerry pointed out that the U.S. is the World Bank’s “largest shareholder,” and historically the U.S. has exercised decisive influence over the governing board’s decisions. Citing “the Europeans, our friends, the Germans, the French, the Brits,” Kerry said, “It is up to us to pull people together and get that reform. And [there is] a lot of discussion about doing that right now.”

This story originally appeared in The Nation and is part of Covering Climate Now, a global journalism collaboration strengthening coverage of the climate story.

Continue Reading



in Africa, Asia, Brazil, Climate Denial & Greenwashing, Ending Emissions, Environmental Justice, Finance & Investment, International Agencies & Studies

The latest climate news and analysis, direct to your inbox

Subscribe

Related Posts

Jon Sullivan/flickr
Ontario

Thorold Gas Peaker Plant Won’t Be Built After Unanimous City Council Vote

September 21, 2023
517
Rewat Wannasuk/Pexels
Heat & Power

Virtual Power Plants Could Cut Peak Demand 20%, Save U.S. Grid $10B Per Year

September 20, 2023
66
Jeremy Bezanger/Unsplash
Heat & Temperature

Indoor Heat Leaves Canadians Unsafe with ‘No Escape’, CBC Investigation Finds

September 20, 2023
32

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

I agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy.

Trending Stories

UN Climate Change/flickr

BREAKING: Don’t Attend COP 28 Unless You’re There to Help, Figueres Tells Oil and Gas

September 21, 2023
203
Jon Sullivan/flickr

Thorold Gas Peaker Plant Won’t Be Built After Unanimous City Council Vote

September 21, 2023
517
Asurnipal/wikimedia commons

Agrivoltaics a Win-Win for Farmers, Communities, Solar Developers, and Alberta’s UCP

September 20, 2023
108
Cullen328/wikimedia commons

Manufactured Housing Could Dent the Affordable Housing Crunch with Energy-Efficient Designs

September 20, 2023
81
Mr Renewables/Wikipedia

Californians Fight for New Community Solar Plan

September 20, 2023
80
Kristoferb/Wikimedia Commons

Canadians Could Save $10.4B, Cut Climate Pollution by Replacing Central Air with Heat Pumps

August 28, 2023
669

Recent Posts

Rewat Wannasuk/Pexels

Virtual Power Plants Could Cut Peak Demand 20%, Save U.S. Grid $10B Per Year

September 20, 2023
66
Jeremy Bezanger/Unsplash

Indoor Heat Leaves Canadians Unsafe with ‘No Escape’, CBC Investigation Finds

September 20, 2023
32
Wesley Fryer/flickr

Smart Thermostats Boost Grid Stability Amid Intense Heat

September 20, 2023
31
Plug'n Drive/Wikimedia Commons

Rural Carshares Ensure EV Push Leaves No One Behind

September 20, 2023
24
/Piqusels

‘Beginning of the End’ for Oil and Gas as IEA Predicts Pre-2030 Peak

September 19, 2023
405
Clean Creatives

‘Turning Point’ for PR Industry as Clean Creatives Targets Fossil Industry Contracts

September 19, 2023
256
Next Post
FMSC/Flickr

Africa’s Climate Finance Gap Hits $108B Per Year as COP 27 Nears

The Energy Mix - The climate news you need

Copyright 2023 © Energy Mix Productions Inc. All rights reserved.

  • About
  • Contact
  • Privacy Policy and Copyright
  • Cookie Policy

Proudly partnering with…

scf_withtagline
The Energy Mix - Energy Central
No Result
View All Result
  • Canada
  • Fossil Fuels
  • Ending Emissions
  • Cities & Communities
  • Electric Mobility
  • Heat & Power
  • Community Climate Finance

Copyright 2022 © Smarter Shift Inc. and Energy Mix Productions Inc. All rights reserved.

Manage Cookie Consent
To provide the best experiences, we use technologies like cookies to store and/or access device information. Consenting to these technologies will allow us to process data such as browsing behaviour or unique IDs on this site. Not consenting or withdrawing consent, may adversely affect certain features and functions.
Functional Always active
The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
Preferences
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
Statistics
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes. The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
Marketing
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.
Manage options Manage services Manage vendors Read more about these purposes
View preferences
{title} {title} {title}