Paris finance reforms could untie poor countries’ hands in climate crisis

Mia Mottley, the prime minister of Barbados, and Ajay Banga, the president of the World Bank on stage at the Power our Planet concert in Paris on Thursday. Photograph: Tom Nicholson/Shutterstock

The Netherlands has almost the same amount of solar generating capacity as the whole continent of Africa. That must be, in part, because the interest on a loan to set up a windfarm in Africa is about 17% more than one to do the same in Europe.

Many poor countries enjoy vast natural resources of wind and sun yet struggle to access renewable energy because of the crippling cost of capital imposed on them. Private sector companies perceive far greater risk in poor countries, penalising most heavily the countries in greatest need of investment.