‘Trump-friendly’ World Bank president abandons climate pledge

 ROME - The World Bank has abandoned a key climate target amid an intense pressure campaign from the US, according to official sources, as external observers accuse bank president Ajay Banga of sacrificing the organisation's principles to ingratiate President Donald Trump.

 The bank will no longer aim to direct 45 percent of its financing to projects that have climate benefits, said an official statement on Monday, while assuring its broader climate action plan would continue.

 The decision follows a months-long pressure campaign by the Trump administration, which has openly questioned the existence of manmade climate change and instigated a bonfire of green policies across government departments.

 “Energy abundance sparks economic abundance, and the Bank must take an all-of-the-above approach to energy that includes financing for gas, oil, and coal" said US Treasury Secretary in a statement last year, calling on the World Bank to ditch the 45 percent target.

 European World Bank shareholder countries and many developing states that rely on the World Bank financing reportedly opposed the decision.

 The move is likely to pile further scrutiny on Banga, who already faced criticism for his perceived willingness to sacrifice bank principles to pander to Trump’s White House.

 “[Banga] is working to ingratiate himself with the Trump regime, notably in weakening the Bank’s leadership in the green transition and in accommodating Trumpian interests...” lamented former World Bank Country Director John McIntire in May, going on to call for Banga’s resignation.

 The former Mastercard CEO has also thrown the bank’s support behind Trump’s highly controversial Gaza reconstruction plan, creating a special World Bank fund for his ‘Board of Peace’ and personally accepting a seat on its executive board.

 Experts have warned the arrangement risks entangling the bank in a highly politicised reconstruction effort, which could see the forced displacement of Palestinians from the devastated enclave.

 In the latest scandal involving the project, a leaked document reported on by the Guardian last week revealed the Board of Peace was drafting a resolution that would grant the organisation the ability to obtain public property in Gaza “free of charge.”

 The draft resolution would also reportedly grant sweeping legal immunity from "arrest, detention or legal proceedings” for all Board of Peace members and officials involved in the controversial project, presumably including Ajay Banga as a member of the executive board.

 “The Office of the Prosecutor at the International Criminal Court must monitor any consequences from the adoption of such immunities” warned Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor in response to the leaked draft.

 “It is essential to ensure these immunities are not used to hinder investigations, arrest warrants, or efforts to hold accountable those responsible for international crimes in the Gaza Strip, including attempts to protect individuals, contractors, or security entities from international jurisdiction.”