A group of Latin American NGOs has called on the World Bank and IDB (InterAmerican Development Bank) to pay greater attention to energy efficiency and Climate Change mitigation and adaptation.
According to a story reported in IPS, a news service that does a great job of covering the Global South, a group of 10 NGOs from Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico, Peru and United States told the regional bank “it should reduce its projects’ contribution to climate change, respect communities’ rights, make accounting more transparent, finance the development of renewable energy sources and phase out fossil-fuel sources and hydroelectric dams.”
The IDB, headed by Colombian Luis Alberto Moreno, opened a first phase of consultations with NGOs from Apr. 26 to May 26, and will begin a second stage, Jul. 30 to Oct. 30, centred on drafting a strategy against climate change. 
IPS quoted Astrid Puentes, co-director of the Inter-American Association for Environmental Defence (AIDA, in Spanish), and a signatory of the letter as saying, “access to sustainable energy should be a priority.”
In November and December, the bank — which was created to promote development and reduce poverty in the region — is to receive more comments, and has slated April 2011 for the release of the final climate change plan.
IPS said the NGO’s called on the the IDB “to put the priority on investments in energy efficiency and truly renewable and clean energy, which effectively promote climate change mitigation and adaptation, and discourage those investments that cause serious impacts.” 
“Hey, watch out Robert Zoellick, they’re coming your way, too!”
— Luis Alberto Moreno, President of the IDB.
This time, 13 different NGOs told the World Bank it needed to consider its energy strategy, emphasizing communities’ rights, green energy and transparency in the elaboration, execution and accounting of the projects the bank supports.”
IPS said, “groups from Argentina, Chile, Ecuador, Colombia, Costa Rica, Mexico, Peru and United States want the World Bank to make equitable and sustainable energy a priority, and to take into account the past, present and future effects of its financing on the environment, the climate and the communities.
In a timeline similar to the IDB’s, from February to June, the World Bank collected comments from civil society around the globe, and from July to September it is drafting a strategy, and will conduct more consultations in November and December.
The World Bank plans a public debate of the final document in February-April 2011 amongst its top officials.
The Charcoal Project hopes Mssrs. Zoellick and Moreno will take a personal interest in ensuring that access to energy efficient biomass technologies and sustainable alternative solid fuels for the base of the Latin American pyramid becomes a reality in this decade.
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