4 March 2011 – Nepalese MP says no to climate loan

Resistance continues in Nepal to a possible $60m loan from the World Bank to tackle the challenges of climate change. Critics have argued that the loan (which would form part of a strategic climate programme agreed between the Nepalese government and donors such as the World Bank) ought to be refused and replaced with a grant.

Nepalese MP Sunil Pant has told Jubilee Debt Campaign:

"The Nepal government has not yet decided to take the $60 million loan, but there is certainly big pressure from the World Bank to do so. We don't have a full cabinet and stable government, so it is very easy for institutions like the World Bank to push their agenda in these circumstances. Many in civil society, and we MPs, are saying no to the climate loan. It would be good for people to raise this matter in the UK. Nepal can't afford more loans and we must get grants for climate change adaptation, as Nepal contributed nothing to global warming."

21 February 2011 - Protests in South Asia against World Bank climate loans

Activists in Bangladesh and Nepal speak out against new debt. Read our news story >>

13 December 2010 - Our reaction to Cancun summit

The deal agreed at the Cancun conference shows how far there is to go to achieve a genuinely just agreement on climate change, while the World Bank's role in the new Green Climate Fund is still uncertain. Read our full response >>

9 December 2010 – Video of World Bank Out launch in Cancun

WDM have made a great video of the World Bank Out of Climate Finance campaign launch in Cancun yesterday, complete with World Bank piggybank piñata.

8 December 2010 – Urgent action to Chris Huhne in Cancun

Please join our urgent action to demand that Chris Huhne, the UK’s Climate Change Minister, keeps the World Bank out of climate finance in Cancun. Take action >>

8 December 2010 – World Bank Out of Climate Finance campaign launches

More than 200 organisations from around the world have today signed an open letter to governments at the Cancun negotiations stating that the nature, structure, track record, and policies of the World Bank contradict the principles of fair and effective climate finance. Read our press release >>

In the Philippines, activists marched to the Asian Development Bank in Manila. Friends of the Earth Europe demonstrated outside the World Bank’s European headquarters, and had a World Bank piggy bank captured by the Brussels police.

4 December 2010 – ‘Send a Pound’ donations delivered to UN Adaptation Fund in Cancun

With Andrew Mitchell still refusing to pass on your donations, and our Freedom of Information request still pending (see 17 November), we decided to take the UK public’s donations direct to the UN Adaptation Fund in Cancun. Watch this video of Kirsty Wright from WDM delivering a cheque for £1,413.14 to Farrukh Iqbal Khan, the Chair of the UN Adaptation Fund Board.

It’s quite embarrassing that this has been the only donation from the UK so far to the UN Adaptation Fund , which has received requests from Senegal for support to increase coastal protection for rice cultivation, and from Pakistan to improve drainage systems in the north of the country. So far, Spain has given €45m, Sweden and Germany have given €10m, but the UK has given nothing. If you haven’t sent a pound yet, do so here

29 November 2010 – Government delays release of legal advice again

This morning we’ve received another reply from the Department for International Development to our Freedom of Information request for the full legal advise they say they’ve received from the Treasury on why they can’t accept your Send a Pound donations for the UN Adaptation Fund. They say they need more time to ‘consider’ the request and this will take until 13 December – conveniently, the day after the end of the Cancun climate summit in Mexico!

As a result, because it’s too good an opportunity to miss, we’re going to collect the pounds that have been donated to DFID so far, and deliver them to the UN Adaptation Fund directly in Cancun. But we're going to continue sending the pounds, and continue asking Andrew Mitchell to pass on the donations to the UN.

19 November 2010 – Video from yesterday’s No New Debt demonstration

Here's a video from our demonstration outside the Department for International Development yesterday. You can read a report on this WDM blog.

17 November 2010 – UK approves first unjust climate loans

Our new briefing, Paying Twice for Climate Change, looks at the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank's announcement last week of the first climate loans for developing countries, including nearly $600 million to Bangladesh - over $100 million of which comes from the UK government. The loans are designed to pay for projects such as improving coastal defences to deal with stronger cyclones and storms caused by climate change.

We're holding a demonstration outside the Department for International Development tomorrow to oppose these climate loans, and demand that Andrew Mitchell accepts our 'Send a Pound' donations for the UN Adaptation Fund. See our recent campaign update and complain to your MP. Plus see also our press release.