KEY FACTS on the G-8, WORLD BANK, and CLIMATE CHANGE

by Sustainable Energy & Economy Network, Institute for Policy Studies

July 2005

Primary institution that emerged from 1992 Rio Earth Summit to catalyze sustainable energy in developing countries: The World Bank

Amount of World Bank Group financing for fossil fuel projects since 1992: over $28 billion
Frequency of approval of World Bank fossil fuel projects since Rio: Once every 17 days
Ratio of World Bank fossil fuel to renewable energy & energy efficiency financing: 17 to 1

Organization the G8 leaders in July 2005 put in charge of financing a "new framework" for addressing the climate change crisis: The World Bank

G-8's share of global population: 14 percent

G-8's share of global greenhouse gas emissions: 46 percent
G-8's voting share on the World Bank executive board: 46 percent

Share of World Bank oil extraction projects that export oil to the G-8: 82 percent

World carbon dioxide emissions from energy consumption, 2002: 24.5 billion tons
Lifetime carbon dioxide emissions from World Bank fossil fuel projects financed since Rio: 43.4 billion tons
Area of plantation forest required to sequester 43.4 billion tons of carbon dioxide in one year: 8.7 million square kilometers
Area of the country of Brazil: 8.5 million square kilometers

Most recent job experience of current World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz: Architect of invasion of Iraq and and post-war reconstruction
Amount World Bank pledged to lend Iraq in July of 2005, six weeks after Wolfowitz came to power: up to $500 million
Years since last World Bank loan to Iraq: 30

Percentage of global oil consumed in the United States, 2001: 25 percent
Projected percentage in 2025: 24 percent
Projected increase in U.S. oil imports, 2001 to 2025: 8.6 million barrels per day

World Bank executive director who said relative economic weights in the world economy [not population] should determine voting powers in the institution: U.S. Executive Director Carole Brookins
Number of countries represented by parliamentarians who are demanding their own veto powers over World Bank programs: Over 70

Percent commission that the World Bank proposed to charge for carbon trading in 1997: 5
Profit World Bank projected it would make from this commission by 2005: $100 million

Above list is based upon Jim Vallette, Daphne Wysham, and Nadia Martinez, A Wrong Turn from Rio: The World Bank Road to Climate Catastrophe, Sustainable Energy & Economy Network, December 2004.

G-8 shares of global population,

carbon dioxide emissions, and World Bank control

Sources:

(a) G-8 population in 2002 was 850 million; global population in 2002: 6.2 billion. Sources of national population data: US Bureau of the Census; State Committee of the Russian Federation of Statistics; Statistics Bureau, Management and Coordination Agency, Japan; Federal Statistic Office of Germany; Statistics Canada; UK Office for National Statistics; Instituto Nazionale di Statistica, Italy; and, Insee, France.

(b) "Table 11.19 World Carbon Dioxide Emissions From Energy Consumption, 1993-2002," U.S. Energy Information Administration.

(c) "Voting Share at the IMF and the World Bank 2000," Global Policy.

(d) Jim Vallette and Steve Kretzmann, The Energy Tug of War: The Winners and Losers of World Bank Fossil Fuel Finance, Sustainable Energy and Economy Network, April 2004.