World Bank Day of Action

At a World Bank Day of Action protest in Paris, Friends of the Earth France demands, “Free us from fossil fuels!” More pictures here.

The climate crisis, driven overwhelmingly by fossil fuels, poses an incredibly serious threat to poor countries. Yet despite a professed goal of supporting sustainable development, the World Bank continues to fund fossil fuel projects worth billions of dollars a year. Since 2006, the World Bank’s lending for fossil fuel projects has increased 400%, and none of that money went to projects designed to provide access to energy for the poor. In fact, many of the projects actually make energy more expensive for poor people around the world.

It is time for the World Bank to end its financing for fossil fuels once and for all! That’s why people in countries across the globe are taking part in a unified Day of Action today to demand that the World Bank “free us from fossil fuels!” In the United States, there is a “virtual day of action,” where activists from all fifty states are sending messages to the World Bank using social media.

The World Bank has done far more to cause climate change than to prevent or effectively respond to it. This must change!

It’s easy to get involved: Send a message using your Twitter or Facebook account! You can also help by sharing this page with friends (and getting your friends involved).

Twitter:

Send a Tweet directly to the World Bank by including their Twitter handle, @WorldBank, in your message. Also, include the “hashtag” #WBDayOfAction, so that activists around the world can see what you have to say! And, while you’re there, follow Friends of the Earth U.S. for all the latest updates.

Some suggested Tweets are:

• The World Bank, a world expert in causing climate change! @WorldBank, stop financing fossil fuels! #WBDayOfAction
• The @WorldBank’s funding for fossil fuel projects has increased 400% since 2006. Free us from fossil fuels! #WBDayOfAction
• The World Bank should have no role in UNFCCC’s Green Climate Fund. Tell @WorldBank to keep its claws out of climate finance! #WBDayOfAction
• Last year, @WorldBank approved a $3.75b loan for a dirty coal plant that will make life harder for South Africa’s poor. #WBDayOfAction
• A carbon market in developing countries will just create another bubble to burst. @WorldBank, get out of climate finance! #WBDayOfAction

Also, check out what other people are saying about #WBDayOfAction at the bottom of the page.

Facebook:

Find the World Bank on Facebook, and “Like” the page (Don’t worry – you will be able to “Unlike” the WB after the day of action, which will be another satisfying way to show your disapproval). Since the World Bank does not allow people to post on its wall, you can comment on its posts or tag it in your status updates by including “@World Bank” in your post. While you’re there, “Like” Friends of the Earth for more suggested status updates and ways to take action!

Some suggested status updates are:

• Instead of financing big polluting coal plants that increase poverty in the developing world, the @World Bank should stop fueling the climate crisis and free us from fossil fuels.
• In spite of evidence that pollution from coal, the world’s most carbon-heavy fuel source, can cause health problems and poison farmland, 2010 was a record year for coal lending at the @World Bank. Spending $4.4 billion on coal is bad for the planet and bad for the world’s poor.
• The @World Bank spent $6.58 billion funding fossil fuel projects in 2010 alone! Fossil fuels are not a solution to global poverty, and the World Bank should stop funding dirty fossil fuel projects.

More information:

Media release from FOE, Sierra Club, Greenpeace, groundWork, and Oil Change International [PDF]

Bank Information Center, World Bank Group Energy Sector Financing Update [PDF]

Friends of the Earth, World Bank Background

Friends of the Earth, World Bank and Climate Change