350.org, an international environmental organisation, has urged the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) to urgently initiate reforms to address the world’s financial system, which is responsible for the worsening climate crisis.

Pascale Hunt, senior global communications specialist of 350.org, said in a statement on Thursday.

The core IMF/ World Bank Spring meetings, which started on Wednesday in Washington to discuss the world economic outlook and financial systems, among other things, end on Friday.

Ms Hunt stressed the need to fix the world’s financial flows, which are responsible for climate breakdown and entrenching inequality. She said the group had initiated a campaign tagged ‘Fix the Finance’ to hold governments and stakeholders accountable for stopping fossil fuel financing.

“A global week of Climate Justice Finance Mobilisations kicked off on April 16 until April 19 under the banner #FixTheFinance. This is to hold governments, UN climate talks, private banks, the IMF, the World Bank and multilateral development banks – those that hold the purse strings – to account,” she said.

Andreas Sieber, associate director for Global Policy and Campaigns at 350.org, said more finance and investment should be channelled towards the renewal of the energy sector.

“The climate crisis is now at a critical juncture; the renewable-powered world has never been closer to our grasp; investment into renewables is at an all-time high.

“But we need to take it to the next level and finally leave fossil fuels firmly behind. We must address the immense injustice of the global financial system, with developing countries bearing the brunt of climate impacts without having contributed to them and rich countries discarding accountability.

“It is time for rich countries to direct finance into renewable energy in the Global South and to play their part in fixing the system; 2024 is the year to make this happen,” he said.

In 2023, the annual UN climate talks reached a momentous agreement– a global renewable energy target–calling for tripling renewable energy capacity and doubling energy efficiency gains by 2030.

(NAN)