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Key developments
Miliband in China
CLIMATE TRIP: Ed Miliband, the UK’s secretary of state for energy security and net-zero, made a three-day visit to Beijing over 15-17 March, reported the Times. Milband met Chinese vice premier Ding Xuexiang and environment minister Huang Runqiu, according to Singapore-based Chinese newspaper Lianhe Zaobao, which said he also attended the eighth “China-UK energy dialogue” with Wang Hongzhi, head of the National Energy Administration (NEA). (Ding is China’s “top decision maker” on climate policy and was the most senior Chinese politician at COP29.) While in Beijing, Miliband delivered a speech at Tsinghua University on “confronting the climate crisis”, according to one of its official WeChat accounts. The Guardian said the China trip was “the first by a UK energy secretary in eight years”.
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CLIMATE DIALOGUE: Ahead of the trip, Miliband wrote for the Guardian: “Climate action at home without pushing larger countries to do their fair share would not protect current and future generations…That is why this week I’m travelling to Beijing: to urge continued action from China.” During a meeting between Miliband and Ding, “the two sides agreed to enhance cooperation in jointly addressing climate change”, Chinese state news agency Xinhua reported. It said: “China is ready to work with the UK to…deepen cooperation in areas such as financial services, trade and investment, and low-carbon development…Ding added.” The Guardian said Miliband used the trip to announce “a new annual UK-China climate dialogue” and added that Huang is expected to attend the first event in London later this year. Chinese media has not confirmed Huang’s attendance.
DETENTE AND DISAGREEMENT? Separately, the Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post (SCMP) reported: “The European Parliament has lifted restrictions on lawmakers meeting some Chinese officials, in a fresh indication of a potential thaw in EU-China ties.” Meanwhile, Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi used a speech at the “two sessions” (see below) to call US president Donald Trump “two-faced” over rising trade tensions between the two countries, reported the Financial Times. Wang also pledged to help Africa make progress in the continent’s “green sectors”, said SCMP.
‘Two sessions’ wrapped up
‘EXTREME WEATHER’: China Briefing’s last issue covered the opening of the “two sessions” and the State Council’s work report, which confirmed that the country had missed its 2024 target for carbon intensity, the emissions per unit of GDP. Subsequently, the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), China’s top planner, said in its own report that the shortfall was partly due to “rapid growth in the energy consumption in industries…and frequent extreme weather events”. It also announced that China will “continue to increase coal production” and pledged to reduce steel output, as well as to encourage oil refiners to produce more petrochemical products instead of fuels. (Read Carbon Brief’s full coverage of the “two sessions” for more, including a comparison of language used in relation to coal in government work reports over 2021-25.)
‘CUTTING EDGE’: The “new three” – electric vehicles (EVs), lithium-ion battery and solar industries – will continue to be promoted, said the NDRC report. Zheng Shanjie, head of the NDRC, announced that a “national venture capital guidance fund” will be established, with a focus on “cutting-edge areas” including hydrogen and energy storage, according to state-supporting newspaper Global Times.
HUANG’S HIGHLIGHTS: In a brief speech at the political gathering, environment minister Huang said that over the past year his ministry had “promoted the development of the carbon market, resulting in a cumulative decrease of 8.78 percentage points in the country’s carbon emission intensity in the coal-fired power generation sector”, state broadcaster CGTN reported. Huang emphasised the ministry’s “efforts to cultivate and develop new quality productive forces” in “the ecological environment”, added CGTN.
Coal down, low-carbon up
COAL DIP: China’s electricity generation from thermal sources – mainly coal – fell by 5.8% year-on-year in the first two months of 2025, Reuters reported, adding that this was “one of only a handful of times it has declined during that period in more than two decades”. The newswire said the reduction in coal power output came alongside a 1.3% drop in electricity generation overall, with Bloomberg attributing this “rare early-year decline” to “milder winter temperatures”.
‘MAJOR CONTRIBUTION’: In contrast, Lauri Myllyvirta, lead analyst at the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air, said on LinkedIn that this 1.3% reduction only referred to “large-scale” generation, citing official statistics. Electricity generation from all sources actually increased by 1.3% in the first two months of the year, he said, with the difference explained by a “major contribution” from small-scale wind and solar. The figures showed that last year’s grid integration issues “have been resolved, at least for now”, Myllyvirta added.
NUCLEAR RISE: The government figures showed that nuclear power output increased by 7.7% year-on-year in January and February, contributing to the reduction in coal generation. Meanwhile, SCMP said Beijing had set an “ambitious target” for nuclear technology of contributing 400bn yuan ($55bn) of economic output by 2026, up from 240bn yuan in 2023. The newspaper added that the government had approved 11 new reactors in 2024, up from 10 each in 2022 and 2023. It noted that while nuclear only accounted for 4.7% of China’s total power supply in 2024, the government has said it will “intensify efforts to support the advancement of nuclear technology”, which “has taken on even greater importance as the country…pledged to achieve carbon neutrality by 2060”.
Power and carbon certificate schemes latest
CLEAN-POWER CERTIFICATES: The NDRC issued a new guiding regulation on promoting “green electricity certificates” (GECs), industry news outlet BJX News reported. GECs allow renewable electricity to be traded on China’s emissions trading scheme (ETS), the country’s mandatory carbon market. They are also linked to compliance with China’s provincial and sectoral regulations requiring minimum shares of demand to be met by renewable sources. The document said there would be a “significant” increase in demand for GECs by 2030, requiring more certificates – which also cover a wider range of low-carbon resources, such as biomass – to be issued quickly. It also urged “key” industries – such as steel, building materials, petrochemicals and data centres – to purchase more GECs, added the outlet.
CARBON CREDITS RESTART: Meanwhile, the first batch of carbon credits “completed registration” under the resumed China Certified Emission Reductions (CCERs) voluntary emissions trading scheme, reported Xinhua. The news agency added that the registered CCERs cover more than 9m tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (MtCO2e) and could bring emissions down by 3.5MtCO2e annually in the next 10 years. Financial publication Caixin said that this was the first approval since the CCER scheme was “revived” in January 2024, eight years after being “suspended due to a lack of uptake and regulatory issues”.
Captured
The 2025 government report delivered at this year’s “two sessions” lowered the importance of high-quality development in favour of “expanding domestic demand”, Carbon Brief found in its detailed summary of the meeting. The prioritisation of “low-carbon development” and other climate related tasks remained the same.
Spotlight
Q&A: Will China’s ‘two new’ policy help tackle climate change?
China emphasised the implementation of the “two new” (两新) policy as a means for “boosting [domestic] consumption” at its recent “two sessions” annual political meeting.
President Xi Jinping reportedly “stressed the importance” of a national recycling company as part of the policy in 2024 because it “facilitates green, low-carbon and circular development”.
In this issue, Carbon Brief explains what the policy is, how it works and what its impact will be. A full explainer on the “two new” is available on Carbon Brief’s website.
What is ‘two new’?
The “two new” policy is short for “large-scale equipment upgrades and trade-in of consumer goods”.
The policy was first introduced in 2023 and became well-known after it was reiterated by Xi in early 2024. In March 2024, the policy then became an “action plan”, a document illustrating specific methods for executing a political goal.
Prof Bai Quan, director of energy transition at the Academy of Macroeconomic Research – a research institution under the direct supervision of the State Council – told Carbon Brief in 2024 that there are four aspects of “two new”:
- Updates to equipment, such as large boilers, turbines, heat pumps and lighting used for manufacturing;
- Trade-in of consumer goods, including fridges and air conditioners;
- Recycling of old or high-emission items;
- Improving standards for product efficiency and emissions, as well as for recycling, “to prevent people from re-purchasing outdated equipment with low energy efficiency”.
The first three of these “directly promote carbon reduction”, prof Bai said. Under the policy, government subsidies are provided for manufacturers and consumers to trade-in old inefficient goods and purchase new ones. Other financial and tax support is given to recyclers to increase recycling.
In 2025, the State Council updated the “two new” policy and increased the funds available to consumers and businesses. It also expanded the range of trade-in products and pledged to release a more detailed trade-in standard by the end of the year.
How does ‘two new’ work?
A fundamental mechanism of “two new” is providing funding that enables consumers and businesses to trade-in and upgrade goods, as well as recycling the old equipment.
For example, under the policy, a consumer can trade in an old, inefficient petrol car and receive subsidies to upgrade to a new electric vehicle (EV) instead.
The government report delivered by premier Li Qiang at the “two sessions” said that “ultra-long special treasury bonds totaling 300bn yuan ($41bn) will be issued to support consumer goods trade-in programmes” in 2025.
A more detailed paper in 2024 eased the rules around low-interest loans for equipment upgrades, making it easier for small and medium-sized enterprises to access them.
The policy also allocated around 7.5bn yuan ($1bn) for the “recycling and treatment of waste electrical and electronic products”. This extends beyond the list of trade-in items.
For example, 35m tonnes of waste from decommissioned wind and solar equipment will need to be recycled in China by 2030.
Despite Beijing issuing policies in 2023 and 2024 to encourage the recycling business, a stronger recycling market is needed for “advancing” the “two new”, according to Prof Du Huanzheng, director of the circular economy research institute of Tongji University.
In 2024, a state-owned recycling company was established to support the goals of the “two new” initiative.
Meanwhile, another policy in support of the policy allowed qualified private recyclers to claim for tax deductions more easily.
In 2025, the categories of eligible trade-in goods under “two new” was expanded from eight to 12, including mobile phones and fridges.
The buyer rebates for vehicles, including EVs and petrol cars, were also extended and remained at the same level as in the second half of 2024.
In addition, more and newer types of petrol cars – including cars registered over 2012-14 rather than 2011-13 – were allowed to join the programme.
What is the impact?
Xinhua said that the trade-in scheme boosted sales of cars, with new energy vehicles (NEVs, mainly EVs and plug-in hybrids) accounting for more than 60% of the new vehicles bought under the initiative in 2024.
Meanwhile, products certified with the “highest energy-efficiency level” made up more than 90% of sales by revenue under the home appliance trade-in scheme, added the report.
An analysis by Goldman Sachs said the trade-in subsidies “accelerated” the rising share of NEVs in Chinese car sales. It said the policy would help raise the NEV share from 48% in 2024 to about 60% in 2025.
Subsidies for NEVs under “two new” have amounted to 90bn yuan ($12bn), accounting for about 60% of the total “trade-in money”, according to Goldman Sachs.
However, CREA’s Lauri Myllyvirta told Carbon Brief that even after the 2025 expansion, the policy was a “much more limited measure than the kinds of income transfers that would be needed to substantially boost the role of household consumption in driving economic growth” and “directs household spending in the most energy-intensive direction”.
Lynn Song, chief economist for Greater China from market research firm ING, told Carbon Brief that “the programme sounds a little small at first thought – under 1% of total retail sales last year – but it will boost sales beyond the 300bn [yuan] spent”. He added that it could “lead to improved demand for these categories this year”.
In his 2024 interview with Carbon Brief, Bai called the “two new” a “sign” of the government using policy support to stimulate lower-carbon consumption.
An official release said that the “two new” policy “saved about 28m tonnes of standard coal and reduced CO2 emissions by about 73m tonnes” in 2024. It said the “effect” of supporting the low-carbon transition was “obvious”.
Watch, read, listen
CARBON CAPTURE: China’s National Business Daily interviewed Zheng Guoguang, former vice minister of the Ministry of Emergency Management, who talked about carbon capture for reaching net-zero.
NORTH VS SOUTH: Dialogue Earth published an article by CREA’s Lauri Myllyvirta comparing the different levels of clean power development in north and south China.
CLIMATE LEADER: In a comment for China Daily, Lin Boqiang, director of the China Institute for Energy Studies at Xiamen University,, suggested that China takes a global leadership role in tackling climate change.
CARBON FOOTPRINT: CGTN’s latest climate podcast talked about how China’s “nationwide carbon footprint management system” works.
10,000
The amount of wind and solar capacity, in gigawatts (GW), that China needs to install to reach carbon neutrality by 2060, new Chinese government-endorsed research covered by Carbon Brief found. China’s wind and solar capacity stood at 1,408GW as of 2024.
New science
Revealing the synergy between carbon reduction and pollution control in the process of new-type urbanisation: Evidence from China’s five major urban agglomerations
Sustainable Cities and Society
A study found that China’s “new-type urbanisation” – which has a greater focus on sustainable development – “significantly drove the synergy” between carbon reduction and pollution control. The study said that the synergy level between carbon reduction and pollution control increased from 2014 to 2022. Urbanisation also “improved its relationship with carbon reduction and pollution control from the perspective of decoupling”, added the research.
Event triggers and opinion leaders shape climate change discourse on Weibo
Communications Earth & Environment
A study looked at “climate change discourse” in China by analysing 5.3m posts from Weibo, a Chinese social media platform similar to Twitter and Bluesky, over 2012–22. It developed an analytical framework that “addresses key research questions regarding the triggering events, opinion leader networks and framing strategies surrounding climate change topics”. The results showed the “attention” to climate change nearly doubled after March 2018, indicating climate discussions were “strongly driven by specific events”. It also found the public generally holds a “positive view of the country’s efforts in addressing climate change”.
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China Briefing is compiled by Wanyuan Song and Anika Patel. It is edited by Wanyuan Song and Dr Simon Evans. Please send tips and feedback to china@carbonbrief.org
The post China Briefing 20 March 2025: Miliband in China; ‘Two new’ promoted; ‘Two sessions’ ended appeared first on Carbon Brief.
China Briefing 20 March 2025: Miliband in China; ‘Two new’ promoted; ‘Two sessions’ ended
Climate Change
DeBriefed 3 July 2026: US faces scorching Independence Day | Record ocean temperatures | Vietnam’s EV surge
Welcome to Carbon Brief’s DeBriefed.
An essential guide to the week’s key developments relating to climate change.
This week
Heating up
NOT FREE FROM HEAT: “Dangerous, record-breaking” heat altered plans for 4 July celebrations across the US this weekend, reported the Associated Press. New York and Boston hit 100F (37.8C) on Thursday, said the newswire. CNBC reported that temperatures of up to 105F (40.5C) are forecast in central and eastern parts of the country, with “daily, monthly and all-time records possible”.
TEMPERATURES SOAR: Heat that hit western Europe last week spread east to “scorch” Germany, Hungary, Romania, Poland and others, said Bloomberg. Red warnings for extreme heat were issued in a number of nations, noted the outlet, adding that the heat “underscores how climate change is transforming summers in the world’s fastest-warming continent”. The Independent said last month was confirmed to be England’s hottest June on record.
HEAT DEATHS: June’s extreme temperatures caused more than 2,000 excess deaths in Spain and France, reported the Guardian. The countries are bracing for further heat that “could bring temperatures of 44C (111F) over the coming days”, said the newspaper. Deaths in France rose almost 30% at the heatwave “peak” on the week of 22 June, according to Le Monde. Last week’s conditions also led to around 480 excess deaths in the Netherlands, reported Reuters.
BOILING: Global ocean temperatures reached record levels for this time of year, reported NBC News, “fuelling fears of more dangerous heatwaves this summer and fanning concerns over the escalating global climate crisis”. Scientists told the Financial Times that this could lead the world towards “uncharted territory”. The newspaper said global average sea surface temperatures reached 20.96C on 21 June, exceeding June records for 2023 and 2024.
Around the world
- GOAL DROPPED: The World Bank will “abandon” its goal to devote 45% of annual lending resources to climate-related projects, reported Reuters. Carbon Brief explored what it could mean for global climate action.
- FIVE-YEAR PLAN: China plans to invest more than 20tn yuan ($2.9tn) in “key energy projects and new business models” over the next five years, according to International Energy Net.
- DRILLING: The Guardian said UK Labour politicians “urged” the likely next prime minister Andy Burnham to ignore “deluded” calls to develop the Rosebank oil field located in the Atlantic north of Scotland.
- PLASTIC TALKS: Countries and activists feared key issues could be sidelined at “critical” talks on a global treaty to curb plastic pollution in Kenya, said Climate Home News. A treaty could have “important implications” for climate change, reported Carbon Brief in 2024.
- CANADA PIPELINE: Canadian prime minister Mark Carney announced plans to build an oil pipeline to supply Asia with up to 1m barrels per day, reported the Financial Times. Earlier this week, Carney called the previous government’s climate plans “expensive” and “divisive”, said CBC News.
63
The number of UK newspaper editorials calling for more oil and gas extraction in the North Sea so far in 2026, according to Carbon Brief analysis.
Latest climate research
- Including emissions from permafrost thaw raises the likelihood of the Arctic becoming a net-carbon source by more than 50% at 2C of warming | Earth System Dynamics
- Net-zero scenarios relying less on carbon dioxide removals lead to fewer residual emissions, which offers greater health improvements for “non-white and low-income groups” in particular | Nature Climate Change
- Agricultural plots of land in sub-Saharan Africa owned by women face heat impacts 2-2.5 times higher than those owned by men | Nature Sustainability
(For more, see Carbon Brief’s in-depth daily summaries of the top climate news stories on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.)
Captured
Wind and solar were the world’s largest source of new energy in 2025, according to Carbon Brief analysis of the latest Energy Institute statistical review of world energy. Wind and solar also saw the fastest growth, up by 18% in 2025. Nevertheless, every source of energy – including coal, oil, gas, nuclear and hydro – also reached global all-time highs last year.
Spotlight
Vietnam’s EV surge
Carbon Brief explores the reasons behind soaring electric-vehicle sales in Vietnam.
Motorbikes are a constant fixture on streets across Vietnam. They pollute the air in cities and make crossing the road a feat of endurance.
But, increasingly, people are moving away from petrol-powered vehicles to save money and reduce air pollution.
Sales of electric motorbikes, scooters and mopeds more than doubled in Vietnam last year, according to a recent report from the International Energy Agency (IEA).
This identified that Vietnam has the largest electric vehicle (EV) market in south-east Asia.
Nearly one-in-five of the two-wheeled vehicles sold last year were electric, it noted, in a nation with 102 million people and 77m motorbikes.
This is “particularly impactful” given they are the main mode of transport in Vietnam, said Lam Pham, Asia energy analyst at thinktank Ember. He told Carbon Brief:
“Electrifying road transport is essential for Vietnam to achieve its net-zero target by 2050. Road transport accounted for around 86% of transport-sector emissions in 2022.”
The nation has just 6.8m cars, but this number is also climbing, partly due to EVs, with nearly 40% of new car sales being electric.
This is “above levels seen in most European countries”, noted the IEA. (The UK’s figure is around 30%.)
EV incentives
Fuel costs surged in south-east Asian countries earlier this year after the energy crisis caused by the US-Israel war on Iran.
This “accelerated” discussions from “why use EVs” to “why keep paying more for fuel”, said Dr Tham Nguyen, a lecturer at the Ho Chi Minh City campus of Australia’s Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT) University, who has researched Vietnamese public attitudes to EVs.
But the surge is “not driven by fuel prices alone”, noted Pham.
Increased EV sales can also be attributed to a “convergence of affordability, convenience and sustainability”, Nguyen said:
“Vietnamese consumers buy EVs because they see real value with immediate personal benefits, such as cost savings and energy security, alongside long-term environmental gains.”
Government policies have also incentivised sales through registration fee exemptions and tax cuts for EVs.
Another factor is affordable EVs sold by Chinese companies and Vinfast, a Vietnamese manufacturer. The IEA report noted that Vietnam is the only country in south-east Asia with “sizeable” domestic production of accessible EVs.
Vinfast reported a 219% year-on-year increase in orders for electric motorbikes and e-bikes in the first quarter of 2026, but the company has yet to turn a profit.
Pham noted that “growing public awareness of air pollution” has also “dramatically strengthened” public support for EVs.
Future plans
Vietnam’s major cities also have plans to get drivers to go electric or turn to public transport.
The capital city Hanoi announced that it would ban fossil-fuel-powered motorbikes from a central zone this month, but this has been postponed until 2028.
Ho Chi Minh City, the nation’s largest city with more than 9.5 million people, intends to introduce low-emission zones and swap 400,000 petrol-powered motorbikes to electric by 2028.
The city’s green transport plans focus on metro lines, electric buses and e-bikes, explained RMIT associate professor Catherine Earl. She noted that walking and cycling are currently “not popular, accessible or safe for many residents in Ho Chi Minh City’s hot and humid climate”.
Looking ahead, Pham said Vietnam could focus on “purchase subsidies, financing schemes and adequate charging or battery-swapping infrastructure, to ensure lower-income riders, including delivery and ride-hailing drivers, are not negatively affected”.
Watch, read, listen
‘JUST 1%’ OF EMISSIONS: The Guardian debunked arguments that climate actions from smaller countries are “insignificant”.
DRILLING RISKS: Mongabay reported on the possible impacts oil drilling in the Amazon could have on a “little-known reef”.
HEATING UP: The BBC Climate Question podcast discussed the weather pattern El Niño and its links to climate change.
Coming up
- 7-10 July: AI for good global summit, Geneva, Switzerland
- 7-15 July: UN high-level political forum on sustainable development, New York
- 8-10 July: Ninth meeting of the board of the fund for responding to loss and damage, Manila, Philippines
Pick of the jobs
- Green Alliance, senior partnerships officer | Salary: £42,748-£47,346. Location: London
- World Vision, environment and climate action senior adviser | Salary: Unknown. Location: Kenya
- Nature Energy, interim associate or senior editor | Salary: Unknown. Location: London or Milan
- Climate Analytics, senior communications manager – climate policy (maternity cover) | Salary €60,605-€66,880. Location: Berlin
- Carbon Exchange, researcher | Salary: Unknown. Location: Hong Kong
DeBriefed is edited by Daisy Dunne. Please send any tips or feedback to debriefed@carbonbrief.org.
This is an online version of Carbon Brief’s weekly DeBriefed email newsletter. Subscribe for free here.
The post DeBriefed 3 July 2026: US faces scorching Independence Day | Record ocean temperatures | Vietnam’s EV surge appeared first on Carbon Brief.
The World Bank has abandoned a target for 45% of the funding it gives developing countries to be “climate finance”, following months of pressure from the Trump administration in the US.
However, a concerted effort by developed- and developing-country shareholders has seen the bank hold onto its “action plan” for tackling climate change.
The multilateral development bank (MDB) – which is headquartered in Washington DC – is the single largest provider of climate finance globally, distributing $39.2bn in 2025 alone, primarily as loans.
Amid widespread aid cuts by developed countries, the World Bank and other MDBs have previously pledged to significantly scale up their climate finance over the next decade.
Despite scrapping its central target, the bank says it will continue to support the demands of its “clients”, many of which have explicitly stated their need for climate-related investment.
Here, Carbon Brief looks at the likely impact of the World Bank’s policy shift and whether it is – as one expert puts it – “mostly a symbolic victory” for the US.
- How does the World Bank support climate action?
- Why has the World Bank abandoned its climate-finance target?
- Why is the World Bank important for international climate finance?
- How will these changes affect global climate action?
How does the World Bank support climate action?
The World Bank is the oldest and largest MDB. It is tasked by its 189 member governments – the bank’s shareholders – with supporting development projects around the world.
The US is the bank’s largest shareholder, followed, in order, by Japan, China, Germany, France and the UK.
Every year, the bank provides billions of dollars – predominantly as loans – to developing countries.
(One part of the World Bank, the International Development Association – IDA – specifically distributes grants to lower-income nations, as well as lower-interest loans.)
Through its financing, the World Bank also has an important role in “mobilising” private investments in developing countries.
In recent years, the bank has increasingly focused on helping developing countries to cut emissions and adapt their economies for climate change.
The World Bank provided $164bn in what it calls financing with climate “co-benefits” between 2020 and 2025.
The largest share of this funding – roughly one-fifth – went to clean energy and electricity access projects. Smaller shares went to areas such as public transport, water supply and sustainable farming.
As the map below shows, the largest recipients of the bank’s climate funds since 2020 have been emerging economies, such as Turkey ($10.3bn), India ($9bn) and Nigeria ($6.3bn).
Among the largest World Bank projects in recent years are two extensive programmes in India, totalling nearly $3bn, supporting renewables and green hydrogen.
Others include $1.7bn for a Pakistan hydropower project, $926m for Iraq’s railways and $803m to boost “green development” in Colombia.
Despite the bank’s major role in providing climate finance to developing countries, it has faced heavy scrutiny from climate advocates.
In particular, they have noted the dominance of loans that push developing countries further into debt. The World Bank has also been criticised for a lack of transparency around how it classifies projects as “climate-related”, as well as “over-reporting” of climate finance.
Why has the World Bank abandoned its climate-finance target?
When World Bank president Ajay Banga – nominated by former US president Joe Biden – took over the institution in 2023, there were widespread calls for MDB reform.
Many of the bank’s shareholders wanted to see billions more dollars being channelled to support climate action. Later that year, Banga announced that the bank would ensure that 45% of the bank’s funding was climate finance by 2025.
This replaced an existing target of 35% for climate finance between 2021 and 2025, which had been set out in the bank’s second climate change action plan (CCAP).
The CCAP is intended to “mainstream” climate action in the bank’s work. With it in place, the World Bank’s climate finance more than doubled from $17.2bn in 2020 to $39.2bn in 2025.
As the chart below shows, this meant the World Bank exceeded its 2025 goal, with climate-related projects making up a 48% share of total funding that year.
When Biden was replaced by Donald Trump as president in 2025, the US administration turned against international cooperation, including climate finance.
However, the US did not walk away from the World Bank, where it exerts considerable power as the largest shareholder.
With the CCAP due to expire in July 2026, the US has spent months pressuring the bank and its shareholders to weaken or abandon the plan altogether.
US Treasury secretary Scott Bessent issued a statement during the 2026 World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) spring meetings in April 2026, in which he called for “jettisoning” the 45% climate-finance target. More broadly, he said:
“We welcome the coming expiration of the CCAP and…expect the bank to immediately shift its myopic focus on climate and financing volumes to one that emphasises high-quality, durable projects.”
This vision involves a push for the World Bank to finance more fossil-fuel projects, including drilling for new gas. (The bank has committed since 2019 to stop funding upstream oil and gas projects.)
The decision on whether to continue with the CCAP was negotiated behind closed doors by the board of directors – representing national shareholders. There were reports of “deep divides”.
A joint statement from 19 of the 25 directors last year affirmed the need for both a plan and a target. The US, Russia, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia all declined to sign up, while Japan and India abstained, according to Reuters.
There were reports of European nations championing a climate plan, bolstered by support from the developing countries that would stand to receive climate finance. The US call to drop the 45% target entirely was reportedly backed by Saudi Arabia and Russia.
Ultimately, the day before the CCAP was due to lapse, the World Bank announced what appeared to be a middle ground. It would drop both the 45% target and the 35% goal it had replaced, while also “extend[ing]” the CCAP.
UK development minister Jenny Chapman told a committee hearing in the House of Commons the next day that this marked a “compromise”. She said:
“It wasn’t clear we were going to get a CCAP at all and a bank without an action plan on climate is a problem for us – so that’s a good outcome.”
Supportive shareholders had been pushing for a one-year extension of the plan. While the World Bank did not initially define the length, Chapman confirmed on LinkedIn that the plan had, in fact, been extended “indefinitely”.
The bank said it would also engage an “independent evaluation group” to assess the CCAP, in line with a board request.
Gaia Larsen, director of climate finance at the World Resources Institute (WRI), tells Carbon Brief that this evaluation will likely be “relatively free from political ideology” and could be “focused on how to make the CCAP more effective”.
Why is the World Bank important for international climate finance?
Under the Paris Agreement, developed countries – including major World Bank shareholders in Europe and elsewhere – are obliged to provide climate finance for developing countries.
This includes a target of $300bn a year by 2035, which is expected to largely come from developed countries. One significant way these nations can contribute to this goal is via their support for MDBs, particularly the World Bank.
The World Bank has described itself as “by far the largest provider of climate finance to developing countries”. Each year, it oversees half of all climate finance from MDBs and far more than any single donor country.
Many developed countries have, therefore, enthusiastically backed the World Bank’s climate efforts, as well as a “bigger” role for MDBs in development more broadly. The bank can lend sums that far exceed the amount of new public finance that individual nations are willing to commit.
This is particularly significant, given many of these nations, including the UK, Germany and France, have announced large cuts to their aid budgets in recent years.
Carbon Brief analysis suggests that roughly a fifth of the international climate finance provided and “mobilised” by developed countries in recent years can be attributed to their World Bank contributions, as the chart below shows.
(This only accounts for the World Bank financing that can be linked to developed-country shares in the bank. Developing countries, such as China, also have significant shares, which are not included in the chart below.)
MDBs – including the World Bank – have committed to providing $120bn in climate finance to developing countries by 2030.
This was set to come from greater shareholder contributions, combined with a programme of reforms to free up capital.
If the World Bank continued to provide half of the MDB total, it would need to increase its climate finance by around 50%, from $39.2bn today to $60bn in 2030.
Therefore, experts see a “key” role for the World Bank in achieving not only the $300bn target, but also the more aspirational $1.3n target that countries agreed as part of the “new collective quantified goal” (NCQG) on climate finance at COP29 in 2024. This includes the private capital it could “unlock” through its lending.
Joe Thwaites, international climate finance director at Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), tells Carbon Brief that these “NCQG politics” are “quite important”. He says:
“The maths of the $300bn does not work if the MDBs pull back and so I think that’s why you’re seeing developed countries taking a stand.”
How will these changes affect global climate action?
To date, the World Bank has only released minimal details about its new climate plans. As such, experts say the impact on future climate finance remains uncertain.
Jon Sward, environment project manager at the Bretton Woods Project, tells Carbon Brief:
“They have said they are going to retain all the same processes about climate-finance reporting. So, of course, there is a world in which, actually, climate finance continues to increase like it has been.”
Some of the World Bank’s internal organisations will, in fact, keep their climate-finance goals for the time being. For example, the IDA’s largely grant-based funding retains a 45% target for its current round, which will last until 2028 – the year of the next US presidential election.
However, WRI’s Larsen tells Carbon Brief that the changes, from a bank that was previously a “champion for climate action”, remain significant:
“This reality, reinforced by the elimination of the 45% goal, means that it would not be surprising to see a reduction in climate investments.”
In a statement, the World Bank said its “work on climate is and will remain firmly client driven”, noting that it supports nations undertaking their Paris Agreement climate plans.
Therefore, its climate focus may come down to whether there is demand for climate action from “client” countries receiving finance.
At an April event in discussion with the climate sceptic Bjørn Lomborg, Bessent said that global financial institutions should focus on growth, characterising climate action as an “elite belief”.
The implication from the US Treasury secretary was that recipient countries are not interested in climate action. However, as reported by Devex, a group of World Bank shareholders representing nearly 100 developing countries, wrote a letter that appeared to push back against this framing.
This “G11+” group, led by Brazil and China, said the bank “must remain firmly client-driven”, noting that countries are “following nationally determined pathways toward climate action”. NRDC’s Thwaites tells Carbon Brief:
“It’s one thing for the Europeans to talk about climate…This was the client countries [100 developing countries] saying: ‘No, we want this.’”
Recent research by the ODI thinktank found that 79% of developing-country officials polled wanted to see MDB investment in solar projects, 54% wanted hydropower and 47% wanted wind power. Only 13% wanted investment in gas-power plants.
Rishikesh Ram Bhandary, a senior development researcher at Boston University, has stressed the need for an “enhanced CCAP”, which could be supported by the bank’s new independent evaluation. Among other things, he tells Carbon Brief:
“The bank needs to make a more convincing case about how climate change is being integrated into development priorities rather than competing with them.”
Thwaites says he is hopeful that the outcome is “mostly a symbolic victory for the US”.
However, he says major shareholders from Europe and elsewhere should make it clear to the bank that it is not “the only game in town” when it comes to climate finance. He says:
“If [the World Bank] are going to cave into one shareholder, when the vast majority of the other shareholders are supportive of continuing climate action, they can take their money elsewhere.”
The post Q&A: How will the World Bank’s abandoned finance goal affect climate action? appeared first on Carbon Brief.
Q&A: How will the World Bank’s abandoned finance goal affect climate action?
Rich Wilson is CEO of the Iswe Foundation and co-founder of the Global Citizens’ Assembly.
The numbers are stark. According to the 2026 Global Report on Food Crises, 266 million people across 47 countries experienced high levels of acute food insecurity last year, nearly double the figure recorded a decade ago.
Meanwhile, disruptions to oil, gas and fertiliser flows through the Strait of Hormuz drove a 46% month-on-month spike in urea prices early this year, sending agricultural price indices up 8% and raising the spectre of a global affordability crisis.
This is not a blip. It is a new baseline. The EAT-Lancet Commission concluded that food systems now account for roughly 30% of total greenhouse gas emissions and are the largest single contributor to the climate crisis. The science has been clear for years.
Now some of the solutions to the problem are becoming socially acceptable too.
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Earlier this year, people from more than 60 countries and territories, selected not by vested interest, but by lottery, spent seven weeks examining the evidence on food and climate for the latest Global Citizens’ Assembly. They heard from scientists, farmers and industry. They worked through 42 hours of structured deliberation, engaging with some difficult trade-offs.
They were not asked to endorse a predetermined conclusion. They were asked an open question: what changes, if any, should we make to how we grow, share and eat food, so that everyone has enough to nourish themselves while tackling the causes and impacts of climate change?
Phase down industrial animal farming
Their answer was unambiguous. They voted to protect forests. They voted to phase down industrial animal food production. They voted for supply chain reform and corporate accountability, explicitly rejecting the idea that the burden of change should fall on individual consumers. All 22 of their Calls to Action passed with over 85% support, a super-majority of randomly selected people from every region of the world, in agreement.
Consider what the assembly was actually being asked to decide. Industrial animal food production is the primary driver of tropical deforestation. Protecting more land as forest and ecosystem means less land available for the expansion of industrial production. That is a real trade-off, with real consequences for real livelihoods. Politicians have spent years avoiding it.
These randomly selected people looked at the evidence, deliberated across time zones and cultures, and chose the forests, with 64% in strong support and a further 20% in favour. People from livestock farming communities voted for change. Not because they were told to. Because deliberation led them there.
We estimate there have now been more than 7,000 citizen participation initiatives worldwide in the last decade. They have been organised because, as our 2025 report: People in the Lead demonstrated, people are now consistently and significantly ahead of politicians on issues ranging from climate to AI governance.
The people know best
What the research consistently shows is that ordinary people, given proper evidence and time, produce recommendations that are more effective and more aligned with public values than what emerges from elected legislatures. The gap in global governance is no longer primarily between science and the public. It is between citizens and their political leaders.
That gap matters for more than procedural reasons. When policy treats people as passive recipients rather than active participants, it leaves out the very actors whose behaviour, trust and consent the transition depends on. Institutions that speak only to other institutions, and negotiate only with state actors and industry lobbies, are missing out on the trust and energy of the people they are supposed to serve.
Governments, left to their own devices, are not moving fast enough to prove that argument wrong. At COP30 in Belém last November, countries failed to agree on a fossil fuel phaseout roadmap, and even full implementation of every submitted national climate plan still leaves the world on course for 2.3 to 2.8C of warming.
Citizens’ track at COP
But the Brazilian presidency grasped something important. Among the conference’s more significant outcomes was the formal launch of a Citizens’ Track within the UNFCCC process, a mechanism for connecting the global participation field to intergovernmental climate negotiations. Türkiye and Australia, who together hold the COP31 presidency in Antalya this November, now have the opportunity to strengthen and institutionalise what Brazil began.
In Guatemala, Indigenous women build climate resilience with old and new farming methods
The question before us is no longer whether citizens can contribute to solving these problems. Across the world, in local food networks, in community assemblies and in participatory planning processes, they already are, quietly generating more ambitious and more legitimate solutions than those emerging from formal diplomatic channels.
What is required now is the political courage to connect people to power. Not to consult citizens and file the results. Not to invite them to observe while the real decisions are made elsewhere. But to recognise the public as partners in perhaps the most consequential governance challenge of our time.
The post As food shocks spread, citizens are showing more leadership than governments appeared first on Climate Home News.
As food shocks spread, citizens are showing more leadership than governments
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