Global Network of Citizens Urges World Bank Group to Upgrade for Fair and Sustainable Development Ahead the Spring Meetings
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Thursday, April 6, 4 pm ET
Media Contact: press@citizensclimateintl.org
(Washington DC): From April 10 to April 16 Spring Meetings of the World Bank Group and the IMF will take place in Washington DC. Many of the events will be broadcast live. Three members of Citizens’ Climate International are delegates at these meetings. The public money at the World Bank Group belongs to the people of this planet. Thus, they are bringing the message that the public money at the World Bank be used for fair and sustainable development.
In the past two weeks, Citizens’ Climate International members from 31 countries have sent personal emails to their own countries’ executive directors at the World Bank Group. As taxpayers and therefore stakeholders of the World Bank, they have requested that the World Bank:
- Supports the Bridgetown Initiative of the Prime Minister of Barbados Mia Mottley. It is gaining support and beginning to work.
- Grounds all reforms in human rights and gender equality.
- Gives citizens the opportunity to share meaningful input into the reforms. This must go beyond the World Bank Civil Society meetings.
- Investigates how money can be dispensed directly to households in need and then develops an implementation plan to do so.
Here is their full request with hyperlinks.
Background:
The global financial system we have does not meet the needs of vulnerable and low-income populations, or the overall challenge of addressing the climate emergency. Things are about to change.
In 2022, the World Bank was tasked by the U.S. Treasury—its largest shareholder—with developing a comprehensive ‘Evolution Roadmap’. The World Bank has immense potential to shift financial flows towards a thriving and equitable world. As in the years after World War II, the World Bank is positioned to transform our world—this time with input from 100 more countries than were there in 1945.
On January 17, 2023, it was reported in Bloomberg News that “the World Bank is set to wield huge influence over how the energy transition is financed, potentially dwarfing the promised efforts of Wall Street giants like JPMorgan Chase & Co. or BlackRock Inc. to help eliminate emissions.”
At COP 27, PM Mia Mottley introduced a plan for 500 billion dollars of public money to be invested to unlock five trillion dollars in investment. For perspective, at COP 26, PM Mia Mottley cited a statistic that by November 2021 nine trillion dollars of public money was used to buffer economies globally during the COVID pandemic.
The World Bank Group / IMF Spring meeting is one of several major meetings in the first half of 2023 as countries prepare for COP 28 in Dubai in late November. There are also the G7 leaders meetings in May, the mid-year United Nations in June, and The Summit For A New Global Financial Pact: Towards More Commitments To Meet The 2030 Agenda in Paris, France June 22 and 23, 2023. The Paris Summit is being co-hosted by President Macron of France and President Modi of India. Of note, India is also the G20 president this year.
About Us
Citizens’ Climate International (CCI) builds political will for a livable world by empowering citizens. We support active chapters in 51 countries and developing chapters in another 25 countries. Our sister organization Citizens’ Climate Lobby (CCL) has been meeting with representatives at the World Bank since 2011. CCL is also a founding member of the World Bank convened Carbon Pricing Leadership Coalition (CPLC). CCI’s executive director, Joseph Robertson, is a member of the CPLC Advisory Group.
Quotes:
Joseph Robertson (American)
Delegate at the World Bank Group IMF Spring Meeting
Executive Director, Citizens’ Climate International
“Every financial decision conditions future outcomes. The World Bank has an opportunity to change the game, with bold reforms that steer major financial flows toward a livable future of climate-resilient development. This is why stakeholders and communities around the world are calling on the World Bank to make sure future investments actively honor human rights, gender equality, civic participation, and the needs of the vulnerable. The very future of human dignity and wellbeing is at stake.”
Cathy Orlando (Canadian)
Delegate at the World Bank Group IMF Spring Meeting
Director of Programs, Citizens’ Climate International
“As a citizen of Canada who has been going to the World Bank since 2011, I know that citizens are essential to unlocking finances for climate and development. It is our money and the World Bank does listen to us. We can defuse the climate bomb and there are sufficient financial resources available to do so. Let’s be clear-eyed. The private sector finances the lionshare of the energy projects and the World Bank has the power to steer much of that finance away from fossil fuels and towards a thriving and equitable planet.”
David Michael Terungwa (Nigerian)
Delegate at the World Bank Group IMF Spring Meeting
Field Development Lead and African Regional Coordinator, Citizens’ Climate International
“We need the World Bank Group and other international financial institutions to adopt reforms that uplift and directly empower the most vulnerable people in the world and end poverty while providing a thriving future for all. As for national governments: put a price on pollution and give the money back to the people. Canada has shown us the way.”
Knowledge Chimungunde
Citizens’ Climate International Leader, Harare, Zimbabwe
‘‘In the midst of fighting against the immense effects of climate change that are ravaging the needy and widely expanding the gap between the rich and the poor, there lies engaging the untapped and remote societies to tailor-make solutions that yield workable results. A local win is a global win, and this means we have scored a remarkable goal in the climate change agenda.’
Catherine Dawson
Citizens’ Climate International Leader, Devizes, UK
“We stand at a crossroads, here in the UK we have had a decade of gradually increasing extreme weather events causing floods, record temperatures and even houses igniting in a London suburb! Despite these warning signs our Government is still committed to maximizing the exploitation of fossil fuels. We need the World Bank Group to transform to make it fit for the challenges of the 21st century, enabling the investment needed in the technologies and services which will eliminate poverty, hasten the day when fossil fuels become a stranded asset and thus stop climate change, for all our futures.”
Rod Mitchell
National Chair, Citizens’ Climate Australia
“Australia’s vulnerability to global warming, our proximity to disappearing island nations and now a more climate friendly government are providing new impetus for change. However, industry and their financiers are slow to follow and plan to expand fossil fuel production. We need the World Bank to lead by example in directing its finances towards the zero-carbon solutions that sustain and conserve the planet we depend on.”
David Waltham
Citizens’ Climate International Leader, Marlborough, UK
“Campaigning at the national level for action on climate is hard work much of the time — governments and industry change only slowly. The right World Bank reforms would be an International step change, moving the whole world forward enormously and all at once.”
André Dumoulin,
Citizens’ Climate International, Panama
“We need clear climate actions guidelines and clear international Environmental Social and Governance (ESG) guidelines. The world needs the World Bank to urgently streamline the complex field of the climate goals and the ESG factors needed by companies and governments to answer the climate emergency, manage the energy transition and restore the world’s biodiversity.”
Alejandro Jaimes,
Citizens’ Climate Lobby, Colombia
“Colombia is extremely vulnerable to the climate crisis, leading to several climate-induced loss and damage. We need the World Bank to show real commitment and ambition on loss and damage finance so that thousands of people who will be severely impacted can have the possibility to restore essential services, to recover and to build forward better. We need you to show us the money. Money that must not increase our debt as a Global South country.”
J.J. (Full name withheld for his personaly safety)
Citizens’ Climate International, Hinche, Haiti
“Le changement climatique frappe nos portes, agissons ensemble. Il faut souligner que certains membres de CCI Francophone se trouvent en grandes difficultés en Haïti par rapport à la situation sécuritaire”
“Climate change is knocking on our doors, let’s act together.It should be noted that some members of CCI Francophone are in great difficulty in Haiti in relation to the security situation.”
Stephanie de la O Pérez, Alba R. Peña Parra, Tamara Quiroz Guzman, Jorge R. Martínez, Pérez Tejada, Garbiela Mena Breña, Javier Eduardo Preciado de Santos, Antonio Díaz Aranda
Climavivible Mexico
“We, as citizens, want the World Bank to reach its objectives of promoting long-term economic development and poverty reduction. We are tired of inequity and lack of transparency in financial processes and it’s about time to put money where it will do most good for people and the planet. In your hands lies a big key to unleashing a better future.”
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