World Bank: Carbon Pricing Key to Tackling Climate Change and Poverty

Cindy Huang blogs on an extended discussion that World Bank President Jim Yong Kim had with the News Hour's Jeffrey Brown on April 18. Brown's "Newsmaker Interview" of Kim, "World Bank Announces Goal to End Extreme Poverty by 2030" was aired and appears on video and text. The supplemental climate change discussion was captured on video and summarized by Ms. Huang.

The video begins with Brown asking Kim to explain why he considers climate change to be a poverty issue. Kim points to environmental and energy problems that need to be tackled today in The Phillipines and Africa. He also points to the urgency in reducing emissions in China, Europe and the United States.

Kim addressed the urgency of climate change and how World Bank is working to combat its effects. He says they must increase financial resources for sustainable energy, use innovative agriculture and partner with major cities to reduce their carbon footprint.

It would have been helpful had Brown asked Kim to define "sustainable energy" - a term he used throughout the 3:41 minute interview. However, Kim clearly played-up the need for determining "a stable price on carbon".

But getting different international powers to agree on things like the price of carbon has been one of the challenges in the effort to curb climate change. Kim said once that is decided, the market forces will kick in and regulate emission.

After emphasizing sustainable energy, carbon pricing and "climate-smart agriculture", Kim turned his attention to "cleaner cities".

Kim cites the efforts of New York City as an example of a successful urban clean-up. New York is on track to have reduced its carbon footprint by 30 percent by 2017, reaching their target goal ahead of their 2030 deadline.

He also cited transportation improvements in New Delhi where "all their buses and taxis run on clean natural gas".