France makes urges World Bank not to scrap climate target

France’s government pressed the World Bank on June 25 to keep its climate finance target from expiring at the end of the month, warning against pressure from the United States to scale back. Development minister Éléonore Caroit made the appeal in London, at Climate Action Week, after Donald Trump’s administration demanded that 45% of annual World Bank lending remain focused on climate projects rather than shifting more toward “core development” lending, including a return to fossil fuel financing. The Climate Change Action Plan has been extended by one year, but could lapse without a replacement. Eighteen or nineteen of 25 shareholders backed the climate goals in a statement last October, while directors representing the U.S., Japan, India, Saudi Arabia, Russia and Kuwait declined to sign. The dispute could shape negotiations at the World Bank/IMF annual meetings in mid-October.