RUGBY, England, May 25 (UPI) -- A new report chides the Group of Eight nations, which meets next month, for failing to meet commitments on energy made during their last summit.
The report by Practical Action, a development charity, says G8 nations fell short of their promises made in Gleneagles, Scotland, to invest in renewable energy in the developing world. In a statement, the group said the World Bank "committed only 1.4 percent increase from its energy sector funding to new renewable projects in 2006 -- a mere $3 million."
The World Bank was instructed by the G8 to disburse the funding. The report comes two weeks ahead of this year's G8 summit in Germany.
The report notes that spending on renewable energy in the developing world pales in comparison to money spent on the oil and gas sector in the same countries. Funding for those sectors increased from $462 million to $893 million -- a 93 percent increase. Funding for the power sector increased by 130 percent from $1.064 billion to $2.453 billion, the report said.
"The G8 stands at a crossroads; if it makes the right decisions it can invest in clean, renewable, energy options which can reduce poverty without contributing to climate change," Andrew Scott, practical action's head of programs and policy, said in a statement.
The group is calling for an end to the "use of aid money to support for new large scale fossil fuels; a commitment to scale up renewable energy projects; delivery of large scale decentralized electricity schemes to rural areas; internationally ambitious carbon-reduction targets."
The G8 consists of Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia and the United States.
