Climate financing: Dutch World Bank boss hopes for breakthrough at climate summit

The World Bank is prepared to further scale up its climate financing if the international community requests it during the climate summit in Azerbaijan next month. World Bank director Axel van Trotsenburg, Dutch and the second highest man at the bank, told ANP in Washington. He hopes for a breakthrough at the so-called COP29 when it comes to financing the global climate approach.

Negotiators from many countries are meeting in Baku to set a new financing target to replace the current pledge by rich countries to provide $100 billion a year in climate finance to developing countries. Experts have already said that a multiple of the old amount is needed. "There is an ongoing discussion about where it will go in the coming years. I don't know yet where we will end up," says Van Trotsenburg. "That depends on the negotiations."

The World Bank mobilizes a large part of all that money. Last financial year, the bank was good for a record of almost 43 billion dollars for loans to poorer countries to become more sustainable and to deal with the consequences of climate change. According to Van Trotsenburg, this makes the World Bank the largest climate financier in the world. "But we have received clear signals that we need to scale up. We are prepared to do that and to work with everyone and see what else is possible."

The 65-year-old Van Trotsenburg was born in Bussum and moved abroad at a young age. He has worked for the World Bank for more than 35 years, climbed the ranks within the bank, and now has only president Ajay Banga above him.

There is also criticism regarding the amounts the World Bank mentions. The civil society organization Oxfam recently stated that up to $41 billion in climate finance could not be properly found in documentation. "The World Bank is quick to brag about its billions in climate finance, but these figures are based on what it plans to spend, not what it actually spends once a project starts," said Kate Donald, head of Oxfam in Washington.

Van Trotsenburg, however, disagrees. According to him, there is no doubt about the figures. "The World Bank reports according to standards that were agreed upon years ago. Other development banks use the same standards. I don't want the impression to arise that there is something secretive going on here."