World Bank To Assist India Reduce Cfc Production

The World Bank has expressedwillingness to support countries like India to reduce production of chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) that deplete the ozone layer. The Bank is also willing to assist countries that move from leaded to unleaded petrol.

The Bank, currently the largest funder of environmental projects in developing countries, said its $600 million assistance to Russia should be complemented by industrial countries to successfully phase out CFCs. Russias experience could be repeated in China, India, Korea, Venezuela, Brazil and Mexico, the worlds other significant CFC producers if the donor community can provide the necessary financial support.

Declaring its Green Top 10 agenda on the eve of the Earth Summit hosted by the United Nations, the World Bank also promised to assist countries that move from leaded to unleaded gasoline. Only 18 countries, including Brazil, Canada, Thailand and the US have so far managed this transition.

 

According to the bank, the conversion from leaded petrol, which causes substantial disease and debility, could help countries recover the costs of conversion five to 10 times over through reduced health care costs and economic savings.

The US, for instance, saved more than $10 for every $1 it invested in the conversion, the Bank estimates.

The Bank would stand ready to assist governments in introducing policies and programmes to assist in the complete phase-out of leaded fuel, the statement said.

India predominantly uses leaded fuel. Till recently, no catalytic converters were manufactured in India, the Bank stated. The task of conversion in India would be gigantic and it is unclear how much the Bank could come up with in this sector.

The Banks Green Top 10 includes phasing out lead in gasoline within five years; moving towards more aggressive elimination of CFCs; building global carbon markets to reduce climate change; making water an economic asset; making cities more liveable; conserving and managing critical ecosystems on land and sea; committing new money for the Global Environment Facility; building alliances to transform the marketplace; being consistent with environmental and social assessment; and adopting greener accounting eliminating harmful subsidies.

After nearly 25 years of helping developing countries cope with urban problems, and committing some $6 billion dollars to these projects, the World Bank stepped back from past policies and maintained that making cities more liveable depends on tackling environmental problems which cause the greatest harm and can be solved at modest cost.

For example, the Bank says, the harmful effects of inhaling dust and soot from vehicle exhaust, power plants, cooking and trash burning can be greatly reduced in industry with modest investments in dust collection and filters and greater vigilance on the shopfloor.

From being the organisation frequently accused of funding projects that were environmentally unsustainable, the World Bank today hopes to occupy the moral high ground in future developmental efforts. The highly ambitious agenda outlined in the 10 principles, most of which have no schedule, have been principles hitherto espoused mainly by non-governmental non-profit organisations fighting with few resources and even lesser clout.

The irony of the Bank espousing their goals after years of their attacks on this financial institution can hardly be lost on grassroots environmentalists. Despite the Banks earlier efforts at adopting various policy papers on the environment and trying to integrate it into project appraisals and design, it had not gained a comparable legitimacy. The latest declaration of the Green Top 10 comes almost as an admission of the need to change direction dramatically.

Even though the Bank took the lead in setting up the Global Environment Facility (GEF) in 1991, on the eve of the Rio Environmental Summit of 1992, the GEF has not had the resources necessary to make it effective globally or regionally and the Banks seeming good intentions have not earned it the legitimacy it seeks.

Bank president James D Wolfensohn will be joining US President Bill Clinton at the UNs fifth Earth Summit later this month to address environmental concerns.