The environmental organisation Greenpeace slammed the World Bank on Monday, saying it was financing energy projects in developing countries that contribute to global warming.
"We demand that the bank immediately stops funding any new fossil fuel investment," Greenpeace campaigner Tony Sadownichik told reporters.
"We are urging the bank to listen to … the people who are going to suffer most from climate change and from being given old world technologies."
The press conference in Istanbul ahead of annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank, was interrupted by a senior World Bank official who accused Greenpeace of distorting information.
"What we are hearing here is that the World Bank should not finance any form of fossil fuel. I'm worried about the 1.6 billion people who don't have access to energy," said Jamal Saghir, bank director for energy transport and water.
Saghir said that World Bank financing for renewable energy projects had increased more than three times over the past three years, while funds for fossil energy projects were up only 8.5 percent.
Greenpeace said that in 2007-2009, the World Bank allocated 2.2 billion dollars (1.5 billion euros) to projects based on fossil energy and only 783 million dollars (535 million euros) to projects of renewable energy.
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