This article was originally published by Rhoda Wilson at The Exposé.

Scrutiny has intensified over the World Bank’s handling of climate funds, with a recent report by Oxfam revealing that between $24 billion and $41 billion in climate finance disbursed by the Bank over the past seven years remains unaccounted for.

This staggering amount, equivalent to nearly 40% of all climate funds disbursed by the Bank during this period, raises serious questions about transparency and accountability.

The World Bank has pledged over $100 billion to combat climate change, but a new report by Oxfam found that up to $41 billion of this spending is “effectively unaccounted for” due to poor record-keeping by the World Bank.

A World Bank insider, speaking on condition of anonymity, suggested the figure for the missing money “could be twice or 10 times more.”

“All the figures are routinely made up,” the source said. “Nobody has a clue about who spends what.”

Oxfam’s report, titled ‘Climate Finance Unchecked’, was published on 17 October ahead of COP29 in Azerbaijan which is currently taking place, and during which climate finance is taking center stage.

The report alleges that the World Bank’s current approach to tracking climate finance is flawed and makes it impossible to verify its expenditures and impact. Specifically, the Bank’s accounting system, which tracks climate finance at the time of project approval rather than project completion, makes it difficult to verify how funds were spent.

Oxfam’s investigation revealed that obtaining even basic information on how the World Bank is using climate finance was painstaking and difficult.

“We had to sift through layers of complex and incomplete reports, and even then, the data was full of gaps and inconsistencies. The fact that this information is so hard to access and understand is alarming – it shouldn’t take a team of professional researchers to figure out how billions of dollars meant for climate action are being spent. This should be transparent and accessible to everyone, most importantly communities who are meant to benefit from climate finance,” Kate Donald, Head of Oxfam International’s Washington D.C. Office, said.

The World Bank’s centrality to climate finance makes its lack of transparency all the more troublesome, according to Oxfam, which argues that the bank’s claims of ambition are impossible to verify without more precise and transparent accounting methods.

Oxfam estimates that the difference between budgeted and actual expenditures on climate finance amounts to tens of billions of dollars over six years. The World Bank’s opacity in accounting methods has led to concerns about mismanagement, corruption, and the potential diversion of funds away from their intended purpose.

Oxfam’s findings have sparked calls for reform, with demands for the World Bank to improve its record-keeping practices and provide greater transparency and accountability. As the international community gathers at COP29, the need for robust climate finance tracking and reporting has never been more pressing.

Calls for reform are growing, with demands for improved transparency and accountability from the World Bank.

Sources for this article include:

Up to $41 billion in World Bank climate finance unaccounted for, Oxfam finds, Oxfam, 17 October 2024
https://www.oxfam.org/en/press-releases/41-billion-world-bank-climate-finance-unaccounted-oxfam-finds

World Bank bureaucrats lost track of at least $24B in funds fighting climate change: ‘Could be twice or 10 times more’, New York Post, 23 October 2024
https://nypost.com/2024/10/23/business/world-bank-bureaucrats-lost-track-of-at-least-24b-in-funds-fighting-climate-change-report/

Oxfam says $41 billion of the World Bank’s climate spending ‘effectively unaccounted for’, International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, 5 November 2024
https://www.icij.org/news/2024/11/oxfam-says-41-billion-of-the-world-banks-climate-spending-effectively-unaccounted-for/