Just days before the UN Climate Summit, reports have surfaced that the Trump administration is pressuring the World Bank and other multilateral development banks to finance new fossil fuel projects, including upstream methane gas exploration and pipelines.
Such a shift would mark a dramatic reversal of recent commitments by development banks to align their portfolios with the Paris Agreement and expand climate finance for developing countries. The World Bank stopped financing new upstream oil and methane gas projects in 2019, with limited exceptions, and in 2023 pledged that 45% of its annual financing would go to climate-related projects by 2025.
Anne Jellema, Executive Director of 350.org, said:
“It is deeply alarming that Donald Trump’s administration is pressuring the World Bank to pour public money into new fossil fuel projects. Developing countries need massive investment in clean, affordable renewable energy, not to be pushed into decades more dependency on dirty gas, outdated technologies that make no economic sense. The World Bank should stand firm in its climate commitments, not be bullied into becoming a financier of climate chaos. World leaders heading into the UN climate summit must make it clear: fossil fuels are the past, and public finance must drive the clean energy transition.”
Economists estimate developing economies will need at least $1.3 trillion annually in climate finance by 2035, with multilateral development banks expected to play a crucial role. Redirecting scarce public funds toward fossil fuels risks undermining both poverty reduction and climate safety.
350.org is calling on world leaders to reject fossil fuel expansion, defend the integrity of multilateral development banks, and commit to scaling up public finance for renewable energy, efficiency, and a just transition.
ENDS