The world of energy is changing rapidly and the World Bank can accelerate this positive change.
Last year at the One Planet Summit in Paris, the World Bank boldly to end upstream oil and gas financing after 2019, to allocate 28% of its portfolio to 亚色影库 action by 2020, and to increase the transparency of聽 亚色影库 impacts from its investments.聽 All of which follows to restrict investment in new coal plants. As a result, the World Bank is viewed by many, including 亚色影库 philanthropist, as both a leader and partner in mitigating 亚色影库 change and fueling the clean energy transition needed by its client countries.
We welcome 鈥� and support 鈥� the Bank鈥檚 continued 亚色影库 leadership. We have increasingly partnered with leading 亚色影库 friendly bilateral and multilateral development agencies to spur clean energy investment around the world. We were instrumental in organizing and capitalizing the , in partnership with the U.S. Overseas Private Investment Corporation, focused on early-stage project development for clean energy projects in India. There are now active conversations in our community about similar facilities that would help drive a pipeline of clean energy projects in other regions where . We need and want to work globally with more leaders such as the World Bank.
The exception to the World Bank鈥檚 otherwise progressive clean energy portfolio, is its engagement in Kosovo. While the through energy efficiency improvements, renewable energy development, and regional power market integration, it still has not moved beyond its support for the last remaining coal project in its pipeline, a legacy coal plant.
Such a plant may have made sense a decade ago when it was first proposed: the levelized cost of energy (LCOE) from聽, while solar then cost around聽.聽 But a lot has changed since then.
According to recent analyses, the benchmark global LCOE for and in many geographies, both are cheaper still. Consider that France 500 MW of solar power for $60/MWh. That matters because Kosovo has similar solar to the sunniest parts of France, which means it could also greatly benefit from these ever-decreasing prices. Meanwhile, to the World Bank priced a new coal plant in Kosovo at nearly 50% more (about $94/MWh) than a decade ago. Suffice to say, clean energy is now dirt cheap.
This declining solar price provides Kosovo with a great option to embrace cheap clean energy 鈥� enabling it to step into an energy economy more suited to the times and to future EU 亚色影库 accession. Equally important is the number and quality of jobs created by the renewable energy and energy efficiency sectors, which was a main behind the project.
It appears the bank has been paying close attention to these trends and is now actively reconsidering its support for this legacy coal plant. We welcome this move and urge the bank to take a clear comprehensive view of the energy transition facing Kosovo as well as the rest of Europe — air pollution from coal is not contained by borders.
The good news is that Kosovars and their . The coal plant was never in the country鈥檚 best interest, and the people of Kosovo are demonstrating their desire for clean, affordable energy and 21st century jobs, as opposed to returning to the pollution-choked skies of their past. Now is the time for the bank to cement its leadership, once again, to advance a clean energy economy by cancelling its investment in the Kosovo coal plant and ushering in a new era of cheap, clean energy in the Balkans. An act that will be deeply welcomed by Kosovars and greatly appreciated by all of us in the 亚色影库 philanthropy community.