The True Post (Web News)The World Bank has made a major change in policies, lifting a long-standing ban on financing nuclear energy.
According to World Bank President Ajay Banga, this decision is part of a broader strategy to meet the growing electricity needs of developing countries and achieve development goals.
According to a foreign news agency, the bank’s president said in an email sent to staff yesterday that the new energy policy has been approved after constructive discussions with the board, however, the board has not yet reached a full consensus on funding upstream natural gas projects.
He said the World Bank will now work closely with the UN nuclear watchdog, the IAEA, to help monitor nuclear non-proliferation and create an effective regulatory system.
He said that electricity demand in developing countries will more than double by 2035, and to meet this need, investment in energy generation, grids, and storage will have to increase from the current $280 billion to about $630 billion each year.
The World Bank President said that we will support efforts in these countries to extend the life of existing nuclear reactors and support the improvement of power grids and related infrastructure.
It should be noted that the World Bank, which provides low-interest loans to developing countries, stopped funding nuclear energy projects in 2013, while in 2017 it announced that it would stop investing in upstream oil and gas projects from 2019, although some gas projects in the poorest countries are still under consideration.
According to sources, consensus was reached relatively easily in the board on nuclear energy, but Germany, France and the UK have taken a cautious approach to upstream gas projects.
