April 19, 2007—With the growing international consensus on the need to hasten the global transition to low-carbon economies, and in line with its Clean Energy for Development Investment Framework (CEIF), the World Bank, with its development partners, will be shaping a greenhouse gas (GHG) assessment methodology to track the ‘carbon footprint’ of its core development activities in the energy (including oil and gas) and transport sectors.
The Carbon Footprint assessment will provide information about the current carbon intensity of World Bank lending operations, and will identify opportunities to reduce the GHG footprint of development activities while continuing to support growth and poverty alleviation.
“We recognize at the World Bank that we need to walk the talk in our own operations,” said Katherine Sierra, Vice President, Sustainable Development, “Together with the IFC, we have made the World Bank Group headquarters carbon neutral. And we also believe it is time, in coordination with our development partners, to develop a system that can estimate the carbon intensity of our projects.”
From left to right: Sarah Matheson, Environment Department; Katherine Sierra, Vice President for Sustainable Development; Lord Michael Jay, UK; Sharon Eliatamby, GSD Food & Conference Services; and Kristalina Georgieva, Director for Strategy & Operations, Sustainable Development sign up for the Energy Star Change a Light Pledge.
The proposal being discussed with partners includes an assessment of the impacts of World Bank activities on GHG emissions in selected client countries, which will be estimated through sector-based and project-based analyses. The findings will be communicated to operational staff with the goal of shaping future activities on the ground. This information and methodology will be vetted and shared with World Bank development partners – other IFIs, donors, country clients, and the private sector.
According to Kristalina Georgieva, Director for Strategy and Operations, Sustainable Development, “The new system will help the Bank and its client countries reduce carbon emissions, and better manage risks to the world’s climate. We believe it is important to provide credible and transparent approaches to quantifying and reporting greenhouse gas emissions associated with development projects.” The new carbon footprint assessment would enable the Bank and developing countries to choose among development strategies, including a menu of lower carbon alternatives, develop a more competitive investment environment that will support low-carbon approaches, benchmark and track progress over time, and potentially participate more fully in carbon markets.
The World Bank's Greening Efforts
Carbon neutral for 2006 for DC-based offices and 3 largest country offices
Occupancy sensors (saves 7,300,000 kWh/year)
Energy efficiency (fan coil units and lighting)
ENERGY STAR label for one of our DC buildings
Environmentally-preferred cleaning products and 100% recycled bathroom paper products
Recycle ~ 50% of waste and 100% ceiling and carpet tiles from DC buildings
Composting food waste (diverts 9 tons/month from landfills)
Largest bicycle parking facility in Washington, DC (300 covered/ 150 uncovered)
Environmental initiatives in field offices worldwide
LEED-rated Silver building in India
The approach being developed will be consistent with the carbon disclosure commitments of an increasing number of IFIs and major corporations.
The assessment will:
examine the two key carbon emissions-intense sectors – energy and transport – in the active WB lending portfolio and develop the analytical/methodological tools by which the WB and its development partners (IFIs, donors, partner countries) can determine the GHG intensity implications of project choices and design;
test the methodological tools developed within selected countries;
share this knowledge with public and private development partners through publications, workshops, and tailored capacity-building initiatives with country partners; and
publicly disclose the data and conclusions, building a foundation for development lending GHG disclosure.
The project will draw from the work done by the World Resources Institute (WRI) and the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) in their voluntary programs targeted at the industry to estimate and report emissions. It will also build on the advice of and partnership with Ceres, a coalition of private and public sector organizations focused on the business challenges of climate change through analysis and disclosure of climate impacts and risks. Industry leaders participating in Ceres include energy companies such as National Grid, NorthEast Utilities, and PG&E Corporation, and financial institutions such as Bank of America, State Street Corporation, and ShoreBank. The World Bank outcomes will be shared through the Ceres network.
According to Warren Evans, Director of Environment, “The international development community recognizes that organizations can most effectively support efforts to reduce carbon intensity of development if they measure and report on their own carbon footprint. Thus, we need to disclose actual historical and current direct and indirect emissions, and estimate future direct and indirect emissions of greenhouse gases from operations using agreed upon international accounting standards.”
ENERGY STAR Change a Light Pledge
Reduce your footprint: Sign up for the ENERGY STAR Change a Light Pledge. If every American home changed out just five high-use light fixtures or the bulbs in them with ones that have earned the ENERGY STAR, each family would save about $60 every year in energy costs, and together we'd save about $6.5 billion each year in energy costs and prevent greenhouse gases equivalent to the emissions from more than 8 million cars.
This assessment has potentially significant implications for innovation in the private sector, by garnering information that will support better country governance regarding the private sector role in the climate change agenda, potentially providing tools that will encourage countries to capture benefits from the carbon finance market, through sector-wide carbon accounting, and by providing a model for climate disclosure among financial institutions engaged in development finance.
The assessment will accelerate the reduction in the carbon footprint of World Bank development investments in priority countries by:
establishing a strong program of analytical work, which will form the basis for choosing among development options;
integrating GHG intensity analysis into the broader WBG and IFI lending portfolios, with the ultimate goal of developing new financial tools for transitioning to low-carbon economies;
increasing country competitiveness and more strategic private sector engagement in low-carbon infrastructure development;
creating better data tools for organizations and nations to report absolute emissions using clearly vetted accounting tools; and
pursuing longer term development growth paths with lower carbon intensity.
Your emissions are due to daily choices you make such as whether to walk, drive, or take public transportation, what to buy at the store, and turning the lights on and off. But longer term choices, such as what type of car to drive, where to live and what appliances to buy also have an impact on your footprint. Use this guide below as a sample on how to think about how to reduce your impact on the environment.
Daily
Keep your car tuned up and choose a fuel efficient vehicle next time you buy one.
Use public transportation or walk, bike, rideshare, slug, or carpool
Combine your errands so that you can save gas and time
Buy products that you expect to last longer. The energy to make and transport materials is higher when you buy more of them.
Check your thermostat and try to minimize unnecessary heating and cooling – consider putting on a sweater in a colder room rather than turning up the heat.
Check the temperature of your refrigerator.
Replace light bulbs with high efficiency ones, known as compact fluorescent lights (CFLs)
Turn off lights when you leave a room
Check the temperature of your water heater – it should be set at 120oF.
Check if your water heater has an insulating blanket. If it doesn’t consider investing in one –they pay for themselves in a year.
Unplug appliances when not in use – many appliances use energy even when they aren’t on. Especially VCRs, DVD players, TVs, cell phone chargers, and laptop chargers.
Buy reused and recycled products
Recycle everything you can
When booking airline flights, look for the most direct route possible.
Longer-term
Install a digital thermostat in your home or apartment to heat and cool only when the area is occupied.
Install home occupancy sensors.
Ask your local electric or gas utility to perform an energy audit of your house or apartment. Then put the recommendations into practice.
Look for drafty windows and doors – seal or replace.
The next time you buy an appliance, purchase a highly efficient model. You can tell by looking for the Energy Star, awarded by the Environmental Protection Agency.
RSS