Poorest 'hardest hit' by climate change

Mr Kim said 97 per cent of scientists agree on the reality of climate change.

"It is my hope that this report shocks us into action," Mr Kim writes in the report.

Scientists are convinced that global warming in the past century is caused by increasing concentrations of greenhouse gases produced by human activities such as the burning of fossil fuels and deforestation.

These findings by the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change were recognised by the national science academies of all major industrialised nations in a joint statement in 2010.

Mr Kim said the World Bank plans to further meld climate change with development in its programs.

Last year, the bank doubled its funding for countries seeking to adapt to climate change, and now operates $7.2 billion in climate investment funds in 48 countries.

The World Bank study comes as almost 200 nations will meet in Doha, Qatar, from November 26th to December 7th to try to extend the Kyoto Protocol, the existing plan for curbing greenhouse gas emissions by developed nations that runs to the end of the year.

They have been trying off and on since Kyoto was agreed in 1997 to widen limits on emissions but have been unable to find a formula acceptable to both rich and poor nations.

Emerging countries like China, the world's biggest emitter of greenhouse gases, have said the main responsibility to cut emissions lies with developed nations, which had a head start in sparking global warming.

Combating climate change also poses a challenge for the poverty-fighting World Bank, in how to balance global warming with immediate energy needs in poor countries.

In 2010, the World Bank approved a $3.75 billion loan to develop a coal-fired power plant in South Africa despite lack of support from the United States, Netherlands and Britain due to environmental concerns.

"There really is no alternative to urgent action given the devastating consequences of climate change," global development group Oxfam said in a statement.

"Now the question for the World Bank is how it will ensure that all of its investments respond to the imperatives of the report."

Mr Kim said the World Bank tries to avoid investing in coal unless there are no other options.

"But at the same time, we are the group of last resort in finding needed energy in countries that are desperately in search of it," he said.

Reuters