'Crucial time for climate'
2007-09-27 11:35
New York - Developing countries are reaching a key moment for decisions about energy needs and how those may affect climate change, World Bank President Robert Zoellick said on Wednesday.
The World Bank and other multilateral institutions are "really at a critical time of ... how they adjust to making sure developing countries that are crying out for energy deal with some of the climate change issues," he said.
The Bank could provide financing tools to help, he told the Clinton Global Initiative in New York, adding that the World Bank has been trying to make its development work more environmentally friendly.
Financing and providing the right incentives, initiatives in markets for carbon trading and environmental technologies will be important, Zoellick said.
"At same time you have this crying challenge in terms of climate change," he said. "Everywhere you run, you need energy."
On the rising demand for energy in rapidly growing economies, he cited the projections for coal fired power plants in China, for example, as "just mind boggling".