Fighting climate change the key to ending poverty

Everyone counts: The effects of climate change pose risks to agriculture, food and water supplies, which imperils gains in fighting poverty in developing countries. (AP file photo)

This December, representatives from more than 180 countries will gather in Copenhagen to negotiate a renewed treaty to fight global warming. The goal is to forge a fair and effective agreement that helps countries address the impacts of climate change and cut global greenhouse-gas emissions such as carbon dioxide. 

The effects of climate change — higher temperatures, shifting precipitation patterns, rising sea levels and more frequent weather-related disasters — pose serious risks for agriculture, food and water supplies. This can imperil recent gains in the fight against poverty, hunger and disease, and the lives and livelihoods of billions of people in the developing world.

What’s more, climate change will have a disproportionate impact on the poor in developing countries, even though they have done the least to cause it, are the least prepared to deal with it and will suffer the soonest and the most from it.

Because poverty reduction and climate change are intricately linked as development issues, the World Bank is tackling these issues head on. More than 60 years of worldwide experience has shown that the best way to reduce poverty is through an inclusive and sustainable globalization. Sustainable development, however, cannot take place without access to energy. Factories and businesses cannot function efficiently; hospitals and schools cannot operate fully or safely; basic services that people in rich countries take for granted — such as power for household lighting, so that children can read or do homework in the evening — cannot be provided without efficient, affordable and reliable energy.

Today, 1.6 billion people in developing countries still do not have access to electricity. Those countries’ leaders, anxious to provide their citizens with electricity as soon as possible, naturally choose the lowest cost and proven solutions. Moving to cleaner energy will be attractive to them if there is financing and technology transfer to make new technology competitive. Helping countries to get on this low-carbon growth path is key to sustainable development and poverty reduction and, therefore, key to the mission of the World Bank.

Last year, we provided nearly $7.6 billion in energy financing — more than twice the amount of the previous year. Of this, 35 percent went to renewable energy and energy efficiency; we expect to do more in the future. Other funding went to support transmission and distribution networks, and energy-sector reform. Less than one-third of our financing was for traditional fossil fuels, and of that the bulk was for the cleanest of these — natural gas.

Significant reductions in fossil-fuel emissions are required if the world is to slow and, eventually, halt global warming. Every country has a role to play. The challenge, which we believe surmountable, is to balance the needs of developing countries for faster access to affordable energy with the needs of the global community for clean energy sources. The World Bank is playing a role through innovative funding mechanisms, such as carbon finance and climate investment funds, that demonstrate how financing for development and climate change can meet this challenge.

The Copenhagen meeting must achieve a strong outcome with meaningful targets. The world is looking to the G-8 and G-20 countries to take leadership. Efforts to achieve an international agreement that will promote the clean energy technologies necessary to lower global greenhouse-gas emissions in the developed and developing worlds alike are very welcome.

California has led the U.S. in creating innovative solutions to mitigate the dangerous risks posed by climate change, often in ways that provide economic benefits to the state. We need to build on such experiences and support strong, sustained leadership on climate change and continued engagement on a global level.

Fighting climate change and overcoming poverty are the defining challenges of our time. You cannot, however, fix one without the other. More than ever, global development matters locally. It is in the interest of communities everywhere, particularly in coastal and drought-prone states such as California, to take note — and ensure that leaders take action.

Katherine Sierra, World Bank vice president for sustainable development, will be speaking at noon Tuesday at the Commonwealth Club, 595 Market St., S.F.