"Independently from one another, the Intergovernmental Panel of Climate Change (IPCC) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) have each come to a similar conclusion: The poorest countries and the poorest population groups will be the hardest hit by both climate change and the global economic and financial crisis. The World Bank, which wants to join in their rescue, intends to increase lending by about US$100 billion over the next three years, and has initiated special programs to finance banking and trade operations.
The World Bank also wants to take a leading role in climate financing, however. Just in time for the annual World Bank / IMF conference in Istanbul, Turkey, the Bank released its new World Development Report on “Development and Climate Change.” The report presents drastic scenarios to make the case that industrialized countries should provide significant levels of new financing to halt climate change in the southern hemisphere, implement clean energy technology, and adapt to climate change. According to the report, these countries will need hundreds of billions of dollars annually just for adaptation to climate change. The World Bank intends to steer as much of this money as possible into its own “pockets”. ... ."

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