October 18, 2024 12:11 pmOxfam International, a non-profit organisation, says up to $41 billion in World Bank climate finance remains unaccounted for due to poor record-keeping.that an audit of the World Bank’s 2017-2023 climate finance portfolio uncovered that between $21 billion and $41 billion in climate finance went unaccounted for from the time projects were approved to their completion.
“This means that, on average, any World Bank project that has reported a share of climate finance for mitigation and/or adaptation at the approval stage can be expected to have ultimately delivered an amount that differs from what was planned by between 26% and 43%.” “Overall, however, the impact of this amount is unknown, as there is simply no assessment of how this climate finance was allocated or reallocated as projects were executed.”Kate Donald, head of Oxfam International’s Washington DC office, stated that the issue is not merely a bureaucratic oversight but a serious breach of trust capable of derailing the progress anticipated at this year’s Conference of the Parties .
“Climate finance is scarce, and yes, we know it’s hard to deliver. But not tracking how or where the money actually gets spent?“That’s not just some bureaucratic oversight — it’s a fundamental breach of trust that risks derailing the progress we need to make at COP this year. The Bank needs to act like our future depends on tackling the climate crisis, because it does.”