Halifax Initiative Objectives for the World Bank

TO begin a transition from its role in financing conventional power loans to a new role in financing sustainable energy technologies the World Bank should :

CHANGE ENERGY POLICY:

1. Institute a Moratorium on Lending or Guarantees for any project that involves new exploration for fossil fuel reserves in natural forests, pristine and frontier areas.

2. Phase Out Lending and Guarantees for any World Bank project that involves coal and oil extraction.

3. Institute a Moratorium on Lending and Guarantees for fossil fuel power projects pending :

Evaluations of all current and future power projects in full consultation with the communities most affected by the project, respecting the right of the local populations to decline a project which may adversely impact them;

Consistent implementation of environmental impact reviews on all future power projects which fully examine options for demand-side management and clean,renewable, decentralized energy options such as wind, solar, and micro-hydro;

Full and public availability of these reviews to project-affected peoples in local languages.

4. Include in all World Bank Contracts a legally binding obligation to restore areas degraded by oil, gas, and coal development by the corporations or public entities that are responsible.

5. Issue the Bank Strategy document A Rural Energy and Development: Improving Energy Supplies for Two Billion People as a mandatory Operational Policy.

6. Shift the Bank's role away from establishing a market for Carbon Credits.

DEVELOP TARGETS AND CHANGE OPERATIONS :

7. Target natural gas, energy efficiency, distributive co-generation, and renewables energy as primary tools to achieve sustainable energy project lending. Offer guarantees to mobilize private capital for these investments.

8. Establish an enforceable benchmark for renewable energy lending.

9. Develop procurement standards for energy using equipment that takes energy life-cycle costs fully into account.

10. Establish a system to screen all Bank projects and sectoral loans for energy impact and integrate energy efficiency, conservation, and renewables assessments in the early stages of all proposed energy and transport projects.

11. Undertake open and transparent sustainable energy development assessments in ALL Country Assistance Strategies. Each CAS should establish specific goals for improving the productivity of energy use and developing renewables. The Bank should report publicly and annually on implementation.

MONITOR AND EVALUATE

12. Establish a open and transparent process to assess the success or failure of Bank-financed energy projects in delivering energy services to the rural poor.