News hook: Launch of World Bank's World Development Report – Development and climate change

16 Sep 2009: Rich countries must repay their climate debt by making big cuts to emissions and providing developing countries with the finance and technology needed, says ActionAid in response to the release of the World Bank's annual World Development Report today (15 September 2009).

"A broad coalition from Bolivian President Evo Morales to the World Bank is united in saying that past emissions matter and that rich countries have to confront this rather than avoid it," said Tom Sharman, ActionAid's head of climate change.

The World Bank report argues that rich countries are responsible for two-thirds of climate change and must take the lead in tackling it. This contrasts sharply with last week's European Commission 'blueprint' for a global deal in Copenhagen, using only emissions in one year – 2005 –– massively underestimating the real level of Europe's emissions.

The Bank's report states that rich countries have accounted for 64% of total global emissions since the nineteenth century, compared to 36% from developing countries, using figures that are likely to be an underestimation.

It also states that 80% of the global impacts will be felt in developing countries, with only 20% in the rich world.