A banker's vision for a livable planet
Ajay Banga, the 14th President of the World Bank, recently held court in Stanford’s Hoover Institution. The former MasterCard CEO, who in 2021 became an advisor to General Atlantic's climate-focused fund, painted a picture of a world at a crossroads—grappling with climate change, refugee crises, and the promise (and perils) of AI.
Banga took the reins at the World Bank last year. He said. «We are a Knowledge Bank,» repositioning the Bank from being just a “money bank” to a venerable institution focused on solving many problems.
On climate, Banga was cautiously upbeat. He pointed to the Paris Agreement as a turning point, not just for governments but also for public awareness. «This wasn't even a topic five-eight years ago,» he noted. The rapid progress in renewable energy particularly caught his eye. «It now takes a day to install a gigawatt of solar. It used to take 100 days a few years ago,» Banga said.
But it's not all sunshine. Banga highlighted the issue of fairness in climate policy. Developing countries, he explained, often feel they're being asked to forgo the very fossil fuels that powered Western growth. Similarly, there are issues on carbon credits. «These are greenwashed, no certification, no registry,» all of which needs to be fixed.
Banga's solution is to ‘think big, but act small’. «Let us work on electricity but also construction, carbon capture, and more,» he said. «Think of bite-sized chunks you can make a difference to.»
Artificial Intelligence(AI)
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