The World Bank believes that the billions of dollars spent on subsidies for agriculture, fisheries and fossil fuels around the world should be used to help countries deal with climate change.

The head of the World Bank, Alex van Trotsenburg, said at the presentation of a new report on the reallocation of the amount spent on policy subsidies to environmental purposes, that "people say there is no money for the climate, but there is, it's just in the wrong places".

The new study, entitled 'Detoxifying Development: Putting Environmentally Harmful Subsidies to New Use', says that "government spending in these three sectors is worth 1.25 trillion dollars a year, roughly the size of Mexico's economy" and stresses that these funds need to be allocated more efficiently.

"If we could rechannel the billions of dollars that are spent ineffectively on subsidies and put them to better, greener uses, we could tackle many of the planet's most pressing problems," argued Alex van Trotsenburg, quoted in the World Bank statement, cited by Lusa.

In 2021, countries spent 577 billion dollars, about 527 billion euros, on subsidies to "keep the price of polluting fuels like oil, gas and coal artificially low, further fueling climate change, and causing air pollution, inequality, inefficiency and more debt," points out the World Bank, stressing that "redirecting these subsidies could unlock at least half a trillion dollars for more productive and sustainable uses."

Recognizing that subsidies cannot be cut overnight, the World Bank argues that governments must "compensate the most vulnerable groups" through assistance programs and direct financial transfers.

They therefore propose building popular awareness through transparent communication, ensuring time for populations and companies to adapt and showing how the funds released are reinvested in projects that ensure long-term development.