Don’t mention climate: Trump creates "beyond absurd" situation at world finance summit

Governments desperate for cash to protect their citizens from the growing impacts of the climate crisis are being put in a “beyond absurd” situation this week at global finance talks: they are being urged not to mention the climate, even as they address the current oil crisis.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank Group (WBG) spring meetings take place this week amid a fragile ceasefire in Iran and upended geopolitics. One of the priorities was to forge a new “climate change action plan” (CCAP) for the world’s biggest provider of funds to developing countries to replace the current strategy, which expires in June.

Now, it looks like the new plan may be shelved, along with substantive discussion of the climate crisis.

With the oil crunch still biting, the delegates from up to 189 countries at the conference in Washington, DC, might have been expected to discuss investments in renewable energy, which many see as crucial to energy security and an antidote to volatility. Climate finance is also a pressing issue for poor countries already paying billions each year to repair the damage from droughts, floods and storms.

If these discussions are instead largely confined to whispers in corridors, the reason is clear: the US president, Donald Trump. Insiders have told the Guardian the White House is forcing countries to choose between opening up a potentially unbridgeable rift or playing down the climate crisis and trying to squeeze in green priorities by the back door.