World Bank indirectly funding Asia 'coal boom': advocacy group

Washington

THE World Bank is indirectly financing a boom in some of Asia's dirtiest coal-fired power generation despite commitments to end most funding for the sector, a development advocacy group charged on Monday.

The power plants, which contribute to climate change and deforestation as well as premature deaths due to illness, are cropping up from Bangladesh to the Philippines, all with financing provided by financial intermediaries supported by the bank, said a report produced by the organisation Inclusive Development International (IDI).