Summary
Critics have called new World Bank president David Malpass an arsonist in charge of a fire department, because of past comments he made on Bank salaries and loans to China.
Thanks to Kim, the Bank insists that every single dollar it spends must take account of climate change, and it has ended financial support for coal-fired power plants.
The World Bank's climate focus is also at odds with what the world's poorest citizens want.
One billion people worldwide live in homes that lack the energy to light even a single bulb.
These are the calculations the World Bank should make. By denying a loan that would finance such coal-fired power plants, the Bank would avoid 23 cents of costs while foregoing $100 of development benefits.
The World Bank itself recently published a study suggesting that living in a community with power shortages reduces a person's chances of employment by 35 percent-41 percent.
Despite its poorly considered climate focus, the Bank does a lot of important work.
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