67-Establishment of the World Bank "Carbon Fund"-February 2000-Environmental Issues Commentary

67-Establishment of the World Bank "Carbon Fund"-February 2000-Environmental Issues Commentary

On January 18, 2000, the World Bank launched a landmark initiative to reduce the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide (CO2) by establishing the Carbon Fund. The Fund has raised a total of 9 billion yen, with the Netherlands, Sweden, Norway, and Japan as major investors. The goal is to finance CO2 reduction projects in developing countries, and to reflect the reduction obligations of the sponsoring countries.

For example, India is considering switching to renewable energy to reduce emissions from coal-fired power plants, and in China, specific support for the construction of wind farms has been identified as a specific recipient. In addition, the Norwegian government is promoting afforestation projects in African countries as part of its own emission reduction goals. This is expected to reduce CO2 emissions by 5,000 tons per year.

Japanese companies are also actively participating in this project. Specifically, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries is supplying wind power generation equipment, and Ricoh is cooperating by providing a low-energy factory operation model. The World Bank is promoting this fund as an international financial model for global warming prevention, aiming to reduce CO2 emissions by several hundred thousand tons per year in the future.