World Bank report urges cleantech boost in developing countries

The World Bank is turning its attention to helping developing countries meet their growing energy needs without, you know, frying the globe. At the request of the G8 nations, the World Bank produced a report on the subject, released at this weekend’s meeting with the International Monetary Fund. (The G8, IMF, and World Bank … it’s the New World Order trifecta!) The report encourages a new regime of loans and investments to promote just about every clean-energy source out there, from renewables to nuclear fission to good old-fashioned energy efficiency. “We’ve got a wide range of technologies,” said World Bank chief scientist Robert Watson. “The issue is energy policy reform.” The National Wildlife Federation commented favorably on the far-reaching goals of the report, but added that “sadly, this rhetoric is essentially the opposite of the bank’s current energy portfolio which is all about big oil and gas.”