World Bank secretly spent $3.7 billion on oil & gas through 'trade finance' projects in 2022 despite its green pledges, study suggests

Here’s the study (pdf): urgewald.org/…/urgewald - Briefing - World Bank a…

TLDR: The amount of $3.7 billion is more than triple the current annual level of fossil fuel finance attributed to the World Bank and cast serious doubts on Bank’s comittment to the Paris Climate, a new study by the German NGO Urgewald says.

Over the last three years, the World Bank’s private sector arm, the International Finance Corporation (IFC), has significantly increased its funds and provided over $40 billionin ‘trade finance’ which now accounts for over 60% of annual funding commitments. More than 70% of the total funds are spent in secrecy, according to the study. Meaning they are not even reported to the World Bank’s shareholders (e.g., the national governments).

The World Bank’s executive board of directors must disclose all trade transactions, study author Heike Meinhardt says. She also demands to add coal, oil and gas-related trade transactions to the IFC Exclusion List.