12 Durban Snips: EIB mixes great works with lunacy; WB too; India solar cost down 38%; Trevor Manuel; Korea; Karen Ireton on IFC; Nedbank; Pachauri & more

> The European Investment Bank (EIB) lends more to clean energy than any other bank in the world. That’s something for Europe to be proud of. But CEE Bankwatch has just shown how, in a way that undermines the EU’s emission reduction targets, the EIB also continues to lend to coal-fired power stations. In fact they lent more this year than last. It’s policy lunacy that when global emissions have just gone up 6% in one year the EU, through its development bank arm, continues to provide subsided financing that locks in new coal power plants - €5bn in 2010. Europe, get your act together. Read more.

 

> And it’s not just the EIB. See this note about the World Bank looking at more coal-fired power. Sigh. Read more.

> One of themes we push at Climate Bonds is the opportunity to push down renewables costs with larger scale auctions and power purchase contracts. India has this week had success with a government auction for permits to build some $700m of solar plants - it achieved a price drop of 38% on a similar auction held a year ago. Now that’s a fast “learning rate”! They're rapidly approaching price parity. Read more.

> I'm sitting in a seminar at the Durban COP17 conference, listening to a senior Chinese Government official announcing the setting up of a new Climate Research Centre. Great initiative, but an astoundingly boring speech. A big portion of COP side events are made up of set piece speeches right out of Soviet Russia.

> Was earlier listening to a government official drone on forever about why local solar was no good because every village really wanted to be connected to a power grid, and in the process killing the chance of anyone else getting a word in. A very sharp solar entrepreneur whispered that the real story was that the grid scheme was riddled with supplier kickbacks, and as a result government policy was discriminating against (non-bribing) distributed solar solutions. That woke me up a bit.

> But then you get a gem. The Secretary-General of the Korean President’s Green Growth Commission was lively, and had a lively plan – including leveraging public funds and providing tax incentives to attract private sector capital. Admittedly their renewable energy targets are not so strong, but they are planning to invest 2% of GDP in green growth over 5 years. Plus they're pushing for multi-national developments to have green growth lending targets of 25%! I'm with them.

> Useful OECD report on climate change outlook to 2050. Read more and be chilled.

> Standard Bank’s impressive director of sustainability management, Karin Ireton, was commenting in an EU forum that while there were loan funds available from development banks, getting it was no easy matter: “We tried to get money from the IFC. We, a big bank, found it very difficult, and when we did get through, the money was too expensive. We need some changes - every development bank has different accountability process. You end up layering transaction costs because everyone’s got different criteria and exclusions.” Yikes! Sounds like an important issue for reform if we’re to get more financing out there to address climate change.

> IPCC head Rajendra Pachauri: "Heatwaves in China that have been happening every 100 years will take place every two years by the end of the century. And the world's mega-deltas, like around Shanghai, will be seriously affected sea level rises."

> Discussion on a bus with a UNDP official. He's worried that we're sacrificing the development agenda is we put too much money into climate change. Another quote from Rajendra Pachauri: "Climate change is an issue that is at the core of development itself." I'm with him.

> Denis Dykes is Chief Economist of big South African bank, Nedbank, speaking about lending for green growth: "Balance sheet lending will be constrained in the future. We need to tap  debt capital markets." And what's exciting in the area? "How Korea and China are placing green growth at the centre of their economic development."

> South African Planning Minister Trevor Manuel: "The ravages of climate change are being felt in those parts of the world that happen to be poorest. We are feeling climate change already. The number of severe weather events in place like the Philippines has increased dramatically. Every time their infrastructure gets washed away they have to rebuild. That ends up impoverishing the global Philippino population. While this happens we are debating punctuation in the Kyoto negotiations."