Defending World Bank's assistance in setting up of coal-fired power plants in India, its President Robert Zoellick said if developing nations are deprived of energy it will be counter-productive and a setback for the larger issues of climate change.
"It will be important for the environment community to also work with the developing world as we are trying to do. Because if the developing world believes that climate change is going to take away their basic development resources or in a way limit their energy use, I think it will be a setback to the larger issue of climate change," Zoellick said while interacting with a group of reporters ahead of the Spring Meetings of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund this weekend.
During the Spring Meetings, the issue of Bank's involvement in Botswana and the Tata's Mundhra's plant in Gujarat is likely to come up during the interactive session.
It is claimed that the Tata's plant will account for nearly 28 million tonnes of carbon dioxide emission when fully operational.
"In the Indian case there is the sense that if you look at India's energy needs, they are very, very significant and where we can we try to look for other sources. But in this case we felt we could also help from a climate technology point of view," the top Bank official said.
Terming climate change as today's crisis, he said "the core principle is the interest of the developing countries.
Our principal focus of climate change is trying to recognise that climate change is not tomorrow's uncertainty for developing countries. It is today's crisis."
Our overall drive is on the recognition that