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SW: added CIEL Eskom study
Under the proposed policy, the world's poorest countries could still receive loans for coal plants that meet certain criteria. The bank would also reserve the ability to support "brownfield" or existing coal plant sites in order to increase efficiency and after considering the greenhouse gas emissions over the ife of the plant.<ref>[http://www.eenews.net/ "World Bank plans to ban future loans to more than 80 nations for coal-fired power plants"] Lisa Friedman, Climate Wire, March 30, 2011.</ref>
===Report finds World Bank did not consider externalities of Eskom Plant===
A March 2011 report by the Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL), [http://www.ciel.org/Publications/FossilThinking_Eskom_21Mar11.pdf “Fossilized Thinking: The World Bank, Eskom, and the Real Cost of Coal”] examined the economics underlying the World Bank’s $3 billion loan for the Eskom plant, evaluating whether the Bank adequately considered the project's impacts on human health and the environment and the likely economic costs of these impacts. The Bank’s operational policies require that such [[externalities]] be taken into account to determine whether a project’s long-term economic benefits outweigh its costs.
CIEL’s analysis concluded that the Bank failed to adequately address and quantify important negative environmental effects, such as water scarcity and quality, air quality, and transboundary impacts. Nor did the Bank fully address the public health impacts associated with the environmental consequences of coal-based power. Steve Porter, Climate Program Director at CIEL, said: “This project highlights a broader problem in World Bank funding. Because all of the costs have not been accounted for, coal projects like Eskom have been unfairly favored, which means that there has never been a real consideration of alternatives, such as wind, solar and other alternative energy sources.”
The report was released as the World Bank conducts an Energy Strategy Review process, as well as a review of the Eskom project by the Bank’s Inspection Panel. CIEL’s report calls on The World Bank to consider the social and environmental impacts of Eskom, but the Inspection Panel is unlikely to issue its report before the conclusion of the Energy Strategy Review.
==Perspectives on the World Bank==