Climate Change Considerations of Energy Pipelines of the World Bank, IFC, ADB and IDB

Although there has been some improvement in the past few years, it is difficult to identify a trend towards systematic incorporation of climate change issues into MDBs’ activities. More than 60 percent of financing for the energy sector over the past fi ve years has not considered climate change at all. As late as 2007, nearly 50 percent of World Bank lending for the sector made no mention of climate change, and over the last three years less than 30 percent of its financing has comprehensively integrated climate change considerations. In 2007, about 60 percent of the ADB’s energy portfolio integrated climate change criteria; however in 2005 and 2006 more than 60 percent of lending ignored climate change completely. More than 60 percent of IDB’s lending for the energy sector in 2007 did not consider climate change at all, and less than 10 percent of its financing over the past three years has integrated climate change.