Axel van Trotsenburg, director general of operations of the World Bank, was in Brussels to talk about access to vaccines against Covid-19 and a new report from his institution according to which climate change could push more than 200 millions of people to migrate by 2050. In The Global Conversation, he answers us on these subjects and on the economic crisis in Lebanon.
Maeve Mc Mahon, euronews:
“Let’s start with the new data on climate change and its impact in Europe. This summer, floods hit Belgium and Germany, from catastrophic fires hit Greece. The human and material toll was considerable. How can Europe better prevent these disasters? “
Axel van Trotsenburg, Managing Director of World Bank Operations:
“Europe can do more, but in fact the whole world has to do more. What we are trying to show in our reports is thatthis is a global responsibility, a global challenge and will require global solutions. When you look at, for example, emissions from coal-fired power plants, this is essentially an Asian problem. We will therefore have to coordinate activities in Europe, but also elsewhere in Asia and the Americas. “
“We have stepped up our activities related to climate protection”
Maeve Mc Mahon:
“When you speak of a global challenge, we obviously think of the COP 26. How will the World Bank help poor countries take action for the climate? And I know that as we approach this conference in Glasgow, the pressure is strong on your institution to get involved in the funding. “
Axel van Trotsenburg:
“We agree that everyone must do their part. And besides, we have been very involved. We have systematically increased our activities related to climate protection. To give you an idea, our funding in this area has increased. by about 50% over the past two years to go from $ 14 billion to $ 21 billion. “
Maeve Mc Mahon:
“How do you make sure that this funding or – the economic recovery, you might say – respects the environment?”
Axel van Trotsenburg:
“This is an issue at the heart of the World Bank’s business. Of course I want to talk about sustainability and long-term development. And that means in our programs we always look at the long term. That’s d ‘elsewhere as well as the World Bank was created 75 years ago with a view to long-term development. “
“Climate change can push millions and millions of people into extreme poverty”
Maeve Mc Mahon:
“I read this morning that in a report, Oxfam believes that this transition should not only be about reducing emissions, but that it should also be help countries become more resilient and adapt to the “dangerous effects of climate change”.”
Axel van Trotsenburg:
“We are on the same line as we need to look at resilience and inclusion. What we are seeing is that climate change can push millions and millions of people back into extreme poverty. , especially in Africa, and these systems are not ready to deal with it, which is why we cannot look at an investment in isolation. We must ask ourselves if the approach is aimed at resilience, but also inclusion.”
Maeve Mc Mahon:
“In the same report, Oxfam says poor countries should be deprived of $ 79 billion in funding over six years to fight climate change. It’s worrying.”
Axel van Trotsenburg:
“I believe that unfortunately, many poor countries are facing a lack of funds. This is already obvious today with the Covid-19 crisis. And to this crisis, there is a climate crisis. There is a climate crisis. also local crises such as locust invasions. This is also why the World Bank has considerably increased its support, in particular to Africa. Our support for Africa reached around 30 billion dollars last year, including 10 billion dollars in donations. And more needs to be done. “
Vaccination against Covid-19: “The poorest countries and in particular Africa have been left behind”
Maeve Mc Mahon:
“We haven’t talked about Covid-19 yet. Out of a billion doses administered worldwide, less than 0.2% of vaccines have been delivered to low-income countries. In your opinion, who is responsible for this huge imbalance? “
Axel van Trotsenburg:
“This is of great concern to us. We have spoken out about this. Unfortunately, the poorest countries, and in particular Africa, have been left behind. Less than 2% of its population is fully vaccinated. For us, this is unacceptable. The objective set by the African Union is to vaccinate 40% of the population by the end of the year. Let’s focus on this goal. One of the problems is access to vaccines. “
Maeve Mc Mahon:
“By the way, were you disappointed with the State of the Union speech by the President of the European Commission last week when she said that the European Union was promising 200 million additional vaccines for the Covax initiative for poor countries ? But the big question here is rather: is it therefore impossible to lift intellectual property rights on vaccines ?”
Axel van Trotsenburg:
“That is not what will solve the problem today. What we need to look at in the medium term is how Africa can get more productive capacity. There are questions to be answered. to resolve on how to achieve this: there are patents, intellectual property rights, import possibilities or export restrictions imposed by industrialized countries which may represent constraints. All these things need to be discussed. and fixed, but that’s a medium-term problem. So what we’re saying is we need to get vaccines now and then we need to see how we can help low-income countries scale up their health systems in general and give them the possibility of having their own production capacity. “
“We first tackle access to vaccines in the poorest countries”
Maeve Mc Mahon:
“You say this is a global problem that requires a global response. But rich countries, including the European Union, are blocking a WTO proposal that would bypass monopolies held by the groups. This would be useful to increase production, provide access to these vaccines that save lives and guarantee supplies to poor countries. Do you think that governments put profits before men? “
Axel van Trotsenburg:
“No … Each country has its own interests. I believe that right now we can discuss so many topics about vaccines that we could potentially lose sight of what matters today, which is the access to these vaccines. Today there are vaccines and doses available that are not being sent to the poorest countries. And our goal is to tackle that first. We feel we need to look at the other issues. Secondly, if we discussed everything at the same time during international negotiations, in the end, everything would be delayed and finally, we would not be able to provide the African populations with the vaccines they desperately need. “
Lebanon: “Let the government come together and develop a plan useful to the Lebanese people”
Maeve Mc Mahon:
“Finally, I would like to mention the economic crisis in Lebanon. I find that little is said about it and we are following the situation closely on euronews. Is there anything that institutions like the World Bank can do to make things better? And if there is nothing to do, why? “
Axel van Trotsenburg:
“Lebanon is a founding member of the World Bank. So we are by its side. I think the political context is very difficult in the country and that there is little consensus on this. What we are asking for, c It is for the government to come together and come up with a plan that is useful to the Lebanese people and not to any special interests. “
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