World Bank President Calls Climate Change A ‘Fundamental Threat’ To Economic Development

http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2013/04/03/1813111/april-3-news-world-bank-president-calls-climate-change-a-fundamental-threat-to-economic-development/

By Ryan Koronowski on Apr 3, 2013

Jim Yong Kim, the head of the World Bank, said that we need to curb climate change immediately or we will leave behind “an unrecognizable planet” for our children and grandchildren. [Washington Post]

World Bank President Jim Yong Kim on Tuesday said climate change was a “fundamental threat” to global economic development as he called for a major new push to reduce extreme poverty over the next 17 years. …

“If we do not act to curb climate change immediately, we will leave our children and grandchildren an unrecognizable planet,” Kim said. “It is the poor, those least responsible for climate change and least able to afford adaptation, who would suffer the most.”

His comments are part of an emerging push by the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund to focus on climate change — something that IMF managing director Christine Lagarde on Tuesday said puts global financial stability “clearly at stake.”

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