Ruzgar Barisik, Senior Investment Officer at the World Bank Group’s International Finance Corporation (IFC) spoke with Israel NewTech about his recent visit to Israel, and the IFC’s plans for cleantech investment. “Israel is a very exciting place for us: market interest in a growing number of Israeli technologies makes this a very promising area we want to be part of”,” said (more…)

The World Bank’s Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency, or MIGA, has allocated $110 million to Kenya to finance increased production of geothermal power.

The World Bank released a statement commenting, “MIGA has increased its coverage against the risks of transfer restriction, expropriation, and war and civil (more…)

The number of homes and shops equipped with solar power systems in rural Bangladesh doubled in the last year to more than 870,000 with the help of funding from the World Bank and other organizations, according to a World Bank report.

In 2009, the World Bank provided $130 million to (more…)

The World Bank is planning to limit its funding for coal-fired power plants to the world’s poorest nations, bowing to pressure from environmental groups and governments that have criticized the bank’s record on funding fossil fuel projects, according to published reports.

Under proposed new regulations, the World (more…)

The World Bank’s lending for renewable energy and energy efficiency projects increased by 300 percent between fiscal year 2007 and fiscal year 2010, to a record $3.4 billion.  But over that same period, lending to fossil fuel projects also jumped 430 percent. (more…)

A study by Robert Goodland and Jeff Anhang of the World Bank looked at the relative importance of anthropogenic emissions of greenhouse gasses from oil, natural gas, and coal compared to the life cycle and supply chain emissions of domesticated animals raised for food. They conclude that greenhouse gases (GHGs) from the lifecycle and supply chain of animals raised for food account for 51% of annual emissions caused by humans and should be given higher priority in global efforts to fight climate change.

While livestock are already known to contribute to GHG emissions, their levels have been underestimated or simply overlooked, former and current World Bank environmental experts Robert Goodland and Jeff Anhang.

Last week I went to the World Bank’s Energy Week in DC.  It was an exciting event in which the World Bank hosted “energy and finance industry executives, senior donor and developing country government officials, stakeholders and leading-edge thinkers of the energy sector”.  Seminars discussed energy efficiency, rural electrification, alternative energy resources, and climate change.  The Global Energy Assessment was an interesting topic discussed by US renewable energy trade organization and private sector.  If you’ve been paying attention to renewable energy there was nothing new, except the passion to engage the emerging markets. 

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