Climate minister Chris Bowen to attack World Bank’s response to climate crisis

The Australian climate change minister, Chris Bowen, will use his major address at the Cop27 UN summit in Egypt to call out the World Bank for failing to address the climate crisis, and join calls for the international financial system to be reshaped. According to an advance copy of the speech released by his office, Bowen would not outline new climate funding or policies.

And, former US vice-president, Al Gore, says the World Bank should refocus its spending and end its role in ‘fossil fuel colonialism’.

Meanwhile, US President Joe Biden said Chinese President Xi Jinping had agreed to resume climate change talks with the United States, three months after suspending them over House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi's trip to Taiwan. China and the US are the world's number one and two climate polluters. The resumption of what has been the two countries' give-some-and-get-some negotiations on climate efforts is seen as crucial to achieving the massive cuts in use of coal and other fossil fuels needed to slow global warming.

Cop27: climate minister Chris Bowen to attack World Bank’s response to the climate crisis
The Australian climate change minister, Chris Bowen, will use a speech at the Cop27 UN summit in Egypt to call out the World Bank for failing to address the climate crisis and join calls for the international financial system to be reshaped. Giving a national statement at the conference in Sharm el-Sheik on Tuesday, Bowen will declare that Australia is back as a “constructive, positive, and willing climate collaborator” since the Anthony Albanese-led Labor party ousted Scott Morrison’s rightwing coalition, which was widely criticised as a roadblock at climate negotiations. According to an advance copy of the speech released by his office, Bowen would not outline new climate funding or policies.

Climate-focused reform of World Bank could be done in a year, says Al Gore
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As world population reaches 8 billion, Australian women are having fewer kids and at an older age
Dr. Allen said climate change considerations is increasingly becoming a factor in family planning decisions. "When it comes to pollution, and climate change issues, per person, a rich country like Australia is polluting above its weight," she said. "We need to be better at ensuring that we take climate change more seriously because what's happening now is that people are choosing not to have children, perhaps against their individual desires."

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