The Big Shift: international
Alongside our UK campaign towards the big banks, the Big Shift is working across the globe towards the same aims of directing millions of pounds of investments out of fossil fuels and into clean, low carbon renewable energy.
We’re also making the case for access to clean energy to millions of energy poor people currently living with no access to electricity.
What is needed to for this Big Shift?
1. Phase out fossil fuels
2. Phase in renewable energy
3. Provide energy access
How are we doing this?
We’re listening to the scientists, world leaders and faith communities who have declared that at least two thirds of the world’s fossil fuel reserves must stay in the ground.
This is to make sure that we avoid global temperatures rising more than 2 degrees or even better 1.5 degrees — the limit agreed by nations across the globe.
The World Bank says that climate change is disproportionately affecting the poorest people on the planet and states that its goal is to end extreme poverty at the global level within a generation.
However, the World Bank still supports fossil fuel projects that contribute further to the release of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, accelerating global warming and worsening climate change.
It is time for the World Bank to put its money where its mouth is.
We want the World Bank, through its investment choices, to help ensure we create a future where everyone has access to affordable, decentralised renewable energy; a world that no longer relies on fossil fuels for energy and where poverty is a thing of the past.
This means the World Bank must phase out all investment in fossil fuels and increase its focus on renewable energy and energy access.
To do this, we’re calling for a review of the World Bank’s energy strategy.
We’re calling for much greater transparency about the impact of their investments in energy on the lives of ordinary people, particularly in terms of tackling poverty and getting access to clean, reliable energy for those currently living without it.
A lot of developing countries are at a crossroads between a fossil fuel future and a low-carbon sustainable future.
As well as the World Bank, the multilateral development banks (MDBs) have a huge influence in Africa, Asia and Latin America and the Caribbean. These banks finance projects in the form of loans and grants and these investments reduce risk for private and state investors.
Take a look at Christian Aid’s report ‘Financing our Future’ which shows the two faces of these banks. On the one hand, they are at the forefront of climate finance and renewable energy, but they also continue to support billions of pounds of fossil fuel projects.
What are we doing about it?
As well as working directly to change the approach of the World Bank, we’ve been looking at countries that are severely impacted by climate change. Countries where hundreds of thousands of people are living in energy poverty, with little access to energy.
We’re excited to announce that to date our Big Shift work has started in:
Africa
Kenya, Malawi and Ethiopia
Asia
The Philippines, Bangladesh
Latin America
Central America as a region and Bolivia
And we have been supporting the emergence of regional networks such as the Africa Coalition for Sustainable Energy & Access (ACSEA) and the Asia Consortium on Climate Change (ACCC) to develop joint regional advocacy towards the MDBs and other influential regional institutions.
In each country and region the challenges are different and the approaches we take are too. But the Big Shift is urgent, so we are working with our partners to:
- engage and support people at a community level across three geographic regions to gain access to renewable energy technology, and to bring an end to investment in fossil fuel energy
- invite those people to bring moral and ethical pressure to bear on the MDBs and the World Bank so that they urgently phase out funding for fossil fuels.
We took the Big Shift to the UN climate talks in Marrakesh
Celebrating Renewable Energy in Africa
With our partners the Pan African Climate Justice Alliance (PACJA) and with the ACT Alliance, we demanded financing for a renewable energy revolution in the continent of Africa to get clean energy to people who most need it.
‘We need other civil society organisations to join the Big Shift initiative and demand investment in the energy sector to be moved from fossil fuel to renewable or low carbon energy.’
— Mithika Mwenda, Director, Pan African Climate Justice Alliance (PACJA)
Check back for more updates on the Big Shift coming soon!
