Campaigners estimate about $3.7bn in trade finance was supplied to oil and gas projects despite bank’s green pledges
The World Bank poured billions of dollars into fossil fuels around the world last year despiteThe money went through a special form of funding known as trade finance, which is used to facilitate global transactions.supplied about $3.7bn in trade finance in 2022 that was likely to have ended up funding oil and gas developments.
Fossil fuel companies would take advantage of this, she added. “They can see that they can access public money this way, without drawing attention to themselves, and they’re very clever, so they will do this,” she told the Guardian. It comprises numerous complex financial instruments used by banks and other financial institutions to provide working capital to governments or businesses. Trade finance can take the form of credit or guarantees, and is an important tool for the World Bank as it helps to “de-risk” financing to developing countries, which are often penalised by higher than normal interest rates when they try to raise finance privately.