“No funding of fossil fuel projects”

The German government no longer supports the new construction or overhaul of already decommissioned coal plants via development finance instruments of the World Bank, it said in an answer to a parliamentary inquiry of the Left Party. “Multilateral development banks are key actors when it comes to implementing (…) the Paris Agreement. These institutions therefore should clearly commit themselves to ending the financing of fossil fuel projects, especially coal,” the government said. It added that financing the modernisation of coal plants “only is admissible in exceptional cases and subject to strict” political and technological criteria. The government said it would adapt its position in the World Bank’s executive boards, especially in the International Finance Corporation (IFC), accordingly. The World Bank should “focus all of its work on climate and sustainability targets," Development Minister Gerd Müller said after meeting with World Bank President Jim Yong Kim.

Read the government’s answer in German here and a press release about the meeting with the World Bank president in English here.