This very good news comes on the heels of President Obama's address on Climate last week.
U.S. and World Bank might stop financing dirty coal plants
By John Upton
The World Bank says it cares about climate change, so why is it providing loans to help developing countries build coal power plants? Same goes for America’s support for coal plants abroad.
In recognition of this glaring climate policy disconnect, both the World Bank and the Obama administration appear to be finally backing away from financial support of such dirty energy enterprises.
The World Bank plans to restrict its financing of coal-fired power plants to “rare circumstances,” according to a draft strategy that reflects the lender’s increased focus on mitigating the effects of climate change.
The Washington-based lender will help countries find alternatives to coal, according to the draft obtained by Bloomberg News which lays out the bank’s policy on lending to its member countries.
As many of you might know I've been writing about the coal mega ports proposed for the Pacific Northwest, so I have to wonder how this decision might affect those. It would be extremely counterproductive to greatly expand US coal exports at the same time we're trying to get other countries to move away from building coal fired power plants.