Hello and welcome to the Strawman, the daily climate newsletter that keep you on your toes like a game of tennis - serves up.

Today we’re checking out the latest at the World Bank and learning more about their attempt to make the climate transition a little more equitable. Let’s get in to it.

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A Developing Story

This week, the World Bank announced that it will allow countries impacted by climate change disasters to pause repayments on loans.

In a win for the campaign led by the Prime Minister of Barbados, the World Bank is finally taking climate inequality seriously and taking steps to address it.

It makes sense. After all, smaller countries (like Barbados) are disproportionately impacted by climate change and they’ll need support on their journey. Do we really expect them to deal with climate disaster and continue to pay World Bank loans?

Bridging the Gap

Over the last year, the Bridgetown Initiative has been focused on offering countries that are smaller, less economically developed, and more prone to climate impact a better deal.

Specifically, the initiative are seeking to reform existing global institutions and financial products to recognise the challenges faced by emerging economies. More on the initiative in a future piece.

The new announcement proposes:

• Improved lending terms with lower interest rates and longer payback periods

• The ability to pause loan repayments in the case of natural disasters

• The introduction of insurance products for national catastrophes to support impacted countries

• New initiatives focused on improving private sector investment in developing economies

While it’s clear that the World Bank is moving in the right direction, as usual critics are arguing that the changes don’t go far enough.

Loan pauses are only being applied to new financing and the amounts being discussed are far from the trillions of dollars expected to be needed to transition to a green economy. The changes are a drop in the ocean, a rising one at that.

‘til next time.

The Strawman