South African Coal Plant vs. the World Bank: (25 mill tons pollutants)

[amborin]

"On Wednesday, the World Bank board is expected to vote on a $3.75 billion loan to help South Africa build a 4,800-megawatt coal-fired power plant.

The plant will release an estimated 25 million metric tons of global warming pollution into the atmosphere. Its loan application has sparked some of the fiercest public outcry the World Bank has seen in years.

Opponents are leaning hard on the United States to cast one of its rare but potent "no" votes, shining a spotlight on the secretive World Bank decisionmaking process, in which critical choices are made behind closed doors and, analysts say, diplomatic sensitivities mingle with an institutional drive to approve loans.

Actual "yea and nay" votes, in fact, are almost unheard of at the World Bank, where the money flow is virtually always given the green light by a well-orchestrated consensus.

http://www.nytimes.com/cwire/2010/04/05/05climatewire-south-african-coal-plant-proposal-strains-cu-41781.html