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Ahead of the 2023 World Bank Spring meetings, we have compiled the major MDBs' 2022 energy finance data for the first time.

The European Investment Bank (EIB) is the world’s largest multilateral lender, bigger even than the World Bank. As a public bank, it’s tasked with providing finance in the EU public interest, and it has an outsized influence on the EU’s energy system because of the private investment it can “crowd in” and the sheer amount of money it has at its disposal.

Today, over 30 groups from around the world, including Oil Change International, sent an open letter to Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe ahead of his meeting with U.S. President Barack Obama on April 24th urging Japan to follow the United States and other countries' pledges to stop financing coal overseas.

The World Bank should prioritize energy access by redirecting energy financing away from large fossil fuel projects toward decentralized renewables.

World Bank Group finance for projects that included fossil fuel exploration was highest in FY2013, at nearly $1 billion out of $2.7 billion total for fossil fuel projects in 2013.

Two important actions were added to the growing list of recent global steps curbing public finance for coal. First, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) joined the World Bank and European Investment Bank (EIB) in adopting a new Energy Strategy that significantly restricts support for coal power projects. As the second climate feat of the week, the U.S. government voted no on the Board of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) for a proposed coal power plant in Pakistan. However, even though the U.S. and several other countries voted no or abstained from supporting the Pakistan coal plant, the ADB board still had a simple majority, and therefore approved $900 million in funding for the 600 MW Jamshoro coal plant.

Whether you’re from Europe or the US, your tax dollars are helping them finance climate-damaging fossil fuel projects, thanks to the EBRD. But that can change.