BURLINGTON, Vt. — A civil society group is warning that a World Bank-led effort to reduce gas flaring — the highly polluting practice of burning excess gas during oil production — could be used as a lifeline for the struggling fossil fuel industry at a time when transitioning to clean energy should be the highest priority.
While the World Bank is leading a voluntary partnership to eliminate gas flaring, which could have benefits for both human health and climate mitigation, the civil society group charges that the decision by the bank’s private sector arm to partially finance some of these efforts amounts to a subsidy for oil companies. This conflicts with the World Bank Group’s broader emphasis on shifting energy prices to better reflect the real costs associated with burning fossil fuels, according to Heike Mainhardt, senior adviser at Urgewald, a German environmental and human rights organization.
“If countries would just properly price the climate change externalities of these industries, that could really make the biggest difference, and yet they turn around and they tell you that you should be using public money to help stop the gas flaring of oil fields,” Mainhardt told Devex.