World Bank green energy spending tops $3 billion

"Five years ago, we thought we were stretching ourselves by promising to expand support for renewable energy and energy efficiency by 20% per year," says Katherine Sierra, vice president for sustainable development at the World Bank. "As it turns out, our client countries have been even more ambitious in asking us to help them in this area, and we've been able to respond with robust investments to help build the low-carbon economies each country is seeking. We've now committed to even more challenging goals on clean energy and carbon intensity reduction investments as we strive to make reliable energy access for all a reality."

The World Bank approved 366 renewable and efficient energy projects in 90 countries since the beginning of fiscal year 2005 -- with 99 projects in 48 countries in only the past fiscal year, which ended on June 30, 2009.

And, the bar has been set higher for the next five years.

Last year, the board of executive directors approved a Strategic Framework on Development and Climate Change that increases the World Bank's investment in the cleantech space to 30% from 2008 through 2012.