Welcome to the Urgewald media center

Activists placed a cutout of the Wall Street bull outside the World Bank Group office in Washington, D.C. to mark the delivery of petition signatures and a group letter asking President Ajay Banga to oust Wall Street influencers by abolishing his newly-created advisory body, the Private Sector Investment Lab.

On May 16, 2024, the World Bank announced that it is hiring an outside firm to “explore the circumstances surrounding the Compliance Advisor Ombudsman’s (CAO) investigation of IFC’s investment in Bridge International Academies.” We commend the World Bank’s Board for taking the lead on this issue.

Urgewald is thrilled to be among the 2024 finalists for the prestigious Keeling Curve Prize announced by The Global Warming Mitigation Project. The award committee recognizes the top climate innovators in their respective categories. These organizations represent the forefront of global efforts to combat climate change.

Following the 15th annual publication of Banking on Climate Chaos (BOCC), Barclays issued a response to the report. As authors of the BOCC report, we wanted to note important clarifications with regard to the BOCC methodology and approach.

Since the Paris Agreement in 2016, the world’s 60 largest private banks financed fossil fuels with USD $6.9 trillion. Nearly half – $3.3 trillion – went towards fossil fuel expansion. In 2023, banks financed $705 billion in fossil fuel financing with $347 billion going to fossil fuel expansion alone.

2021 was the year in which the International Energy Agency issued its Net Zero by 2050 scenario, underlining the need for a rapid transition out of coal. It was the year in which COP26 in Glasgow agreed to accelerate the phase-down of coal and in which commercial banks launched the Net Zero Banking Alliance. “2021 should have been a turning point. Yet our data shows that banks are still injecting hundreds of billions of dollars into the industry, which is our climate’s worst enemy,” says Katrin Ganswindt, head of financial research at Urgewald.