World Bank criticised over climate crisis spending

The World Bank president, David Malpass. The former US vice-president Al Gore led calls for his resignation last month after he avoided a journalist’s questions on climate science. Photograph: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

The World Bank has come under fire for failing to show that its claimed spending on the climate crisis is real, in a report suggesting up to 40% of its reported climate-related spending is impossible to account for.

Of $17.2bn that the World Bank reported it spent on climate finance in 2020, up to $7bn cannot be independently verified, according to research by Oxfam.