World Bank Cuts Its Support for Oil and Gas

World Bank Group (WBG), a global multilateral development institution, said it will no longer finance upstream oil and gas, after 2019. 

The announcement was made during a One Planet Summit on Tuesday by WBG president Jim Yong Kim.

The WBG is focusing its support to developing countries for the effective implementation of the Paris Agreement’s goals.

According to WBG, only in exceptional circumstances, consideration will be given to financing upstream gas in the poorest countries where there is a clear benefit in terms of energy access for the poor and the project fits within the countries’ Paris Agreement commitments.

The WBG is on track to meet its target of 28% of its lending going to climate action by 2020 and to meeting the goals of its Climate Change Action Plan – developed following the Paris Agreement.