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Global Climate Change Digest
A Guide to Information on Greenhouse Gases and Ozone Depletion
Published July 1988 through June 1999

FROM VOLUME 2, NUMBER 11, NOVEMBER 1989

NEWS...
WORLD BANK AND GLOBAL WARMING

Item #d89nov3

At an international conference on sustainable development in Japan, World Bank President Barber Conable emphasized the scientific uncertainty surrounding global warming and pointed out that some benefits (such as increased productivity in cold regions) would offset undesirable effects. He released a plan calling for family planning projects, increased use of natural gas, and a phase-out of chlorofluorocarbons. The World Bank has recently been developing ways to incorporate environmental concerns into its primarily large, third-world projects, which often involve tropical forests. However, the Bank's approach to environmental concerns has been criticized by environmental groups, and Senator Robert Kastens, a ranking member of the Senate committee which influences U.S. funding of the Bank, recently labelled its position on global warming "absolutely unacceptable." Two foreign affairs subcommittees in the U.S. House of Representatives have been holding hearings on the environmental effects of World Bank lending policies. For more details see Intl. Environ. Rptr., pp. 434-435, Sep. 1989, and the following:

"World Bank Focus of Criticism for Policy on Global Warming," Greenhouse Effect Report, p. 74, Sep.

"World Bank Unveils Environmental Plan To Be Integrated into All Its Activities," Intl. Environ. Rptr., pp. 486-487, Oct. Discusses reactions to a report released Sep. 25, World Bank Support for the Environment: A Progress Report.

"Greener Faces for Its Greenbacks," The Economist, pp. 41-42, Sep. 2. Summarizes the latest report by the Bank's development committee on environmental considerations.