WASHINGTON: The World Bank’s board has agreed to end a longstanding ban on funding nuclear energy projects in developing countries as part of a broader push to meet rising electricity needs, the bank’s president Ajay Banga said on Wednesday.
Banga outlined the bank’s revised energy strategy in an email to staff after what he called a constructive discussion with the board on Tuesday. He said the board was not yet in agreement on whether the bank should engage in funding the production of natural gas, and if so, under what circumstances.
The global development bank, which lends at low rates to help countries build everything from flood barriers to railroads, decided in 2013 to stop funding nuclear power projects. It announced in 2017 it would stop funding upstream oil and gas projects beginning in 2019, although it would still consider gas projects in the poorest countries.
The nuclear issue was agreed fairly easily by board members, but several countries, including Germany, France and Britain, did not fully support changing the bank’s approach to embrace upstream natural gas projects, sources familiar with the discussion said.
“While the issues are complex, we’ve made real progress toward a clear path forward on delivering electricity as a driver of development,” Banga said, adding that further discussion was required on the issue of upstream gas projects.
Banga has championed a shift in the bank’s energy policy since taking office in June 2023, arguing the bank should pursue an “all of the above” approach to help countries meet rising electricity needs and advance development goals.
In his memo, he noted that electricity demand was expected to more than double in developing countries by 2035, which would require more than doubling today’s annual investment of $280 billion in generation, grids and storage.
The Trump administration has been pushing hard for ending the ban on nuclear energy projects since taking office.
The US is the bank’s single largest shareholder — at 15.83 percent, followed by Japan with 7 percent and China with close to 6 percent — and the bank’s decision to broaden its approach to energy projects will likely please President Donald Trump, who withdrew the US from the Paris Climate Agreement and its emission-reduction targets as one of his first acts in January.
Twenty-eight countries already use commercial nuclear power, with 10 more ready to start and another 10 potentially ready by 2030, according to the Energy for Growth Hub and Third Way.
Banga said the World Bank Group would work closely with the International Atomic Energy Agency to strengthen its ability to advise on nuclear non-proliferation safeguards, safety, security and regulatory frameworks.
The bank would support efforts to extend the life of existing nuclear reactors, along with grid upgrades. It would also work to accelerate the potential of small modular reactors.
ENERGY MIX
Trump administration officials and some development experts say developing countries should not be blocked from using inexpensive power to expand their economies while advanced economies like Germany continue to burn fossil fuels.
But climate activists worry that funding more nuclear and natural gas projects will divert funds away from urgently needed efforts by developing countries to adapt to climate change and benefit from abundant alternative energy sources such as solar.
“Net zero does not mean fossil fuel free. It means, still, that there will be 20 percent energy coming from fossil fuels,” said Mia Mottley, prime minister of Barbados. “We know natural gas is that clean fuel.”
Banga said the bank’s revised strategy would allow countries to determine the best energy mix, with some choosing solar, wind, geothermal or hydroelectric power, while others might opt for natural gas or, over time, nuclear.
He said the bank would continue to advise on and finance midstream and downstream natural gas projects when they represented the least-cost option, aligned with development plans, minimized risk and did not constrain renewables.
The bank would further study evolving technologies like carbon capture and ocean energy, Banga said, adding it aimed to simplify reviews and approvals.
Banga said the bank would continue advising on and financing the retirement of coal plants, supporting carbon capture for industry and power generation, but not for enhanced oil recovery, which can typically secure commercial financing.
World Bank to end ban on nuclear energy projects, still debating upstream gas
https://arab.news/vhwc7
World Bank to end ban on nuclear energy projects, still debating upstream gas
- World Bank to work closely with IAEA to build capacity
- Electricity demand is expected to more than double by 2035
Red Sea’s oxygen balance under strain, experts warn
- Scientists say warming waters, nutrient runoff and coastal development could quietly erode coral resilience
RIYADH: The Red Sea may not have dead zones, but its fragile ecosystem is vulnerable to oxygen depletion — a quiet decline that can undermine coral health and disrupt marine life.
Sea dead zones are hypoxic or low-oxygen pockets that form most often when nutrient pollution — especially nitrogen and phosphorus from farm runoff and wastewater — fuels blooms that ultimately strip oxygen from the water.
Experts say the risk is not inevitable, but it depends on earlier detection and tighter control of the conditions that drain oxygen from coastal waters.
A sea that relies on its own “breathing” is also a sea shaped by geography.
FASTFACT
DID YOU KNOW?
- The Red Sea is naturally low in oxygen because of its warm waters and high salinity — making it especially vulnerable to further oxygen decline.
- The Red Sea’s narrow Bab Al-Mandab strait limits deepwater exchange, meaning the basin largely depends on its own internal circulation to ‘replenish’ oxygen.
- Saudi Arabia’s coastline features steep underwater drop-offs, allowing deep, oxygen-poor water to move closer to coral reefs near shore.
Matheus Paiva, a senior oceanographer, told Arab News that “the Red Sea’s shallow Bab Al-Mandab choke point limits deepwater exchange,” meaning oxygen replenishment depends heavily on internal overturning circulation.
He said this circulation is driven as surface waters flow north, cool, become denser and sink, helping ventilate deeper layers through vertical mixing.
Paiva said the Saudi coastline’s underwater topography makes the risk more immediate close to shore.
“Unlike regions with wide, gradual shelves, our coast features narrow fringing reefs that drop sharply into deep water via steep underwater cliffs and canyons,” he said.
“This ‘step-and-drop’ topography brings deep oxygen-poor water close to shore.”
Paiva said warming at the surface can intensify stratification and reduce vertical mixing. He said that can allow low-oxygen water to creep upslope and affect shallower reef zones.
How oxygen gets consumed faster than it’s replaced is where human pressure can tip the balance.
Carlos Duarte, executive director or the Coral Research and Development Accelerator Program at KAUST, told Arab News that the Red Sea’s baseline conditions create vulnerability. “Because of its warm waters and high salinity, the Red Sea is inherently low in oxygen and, therefore, vulnerable to processes that decline oxygen further.”
He said algal blooms and heat waves raise biological oxygen demand, linking low oxygen to coral mortality.
Duarte said human-driven nutrient and organic inputs can intensify these declines.
He said poorly managed urban development and aquaculture operations can contribute nutrient and organic loads that fuel algal blooms.
Duarte said that as bloom material decomposes, it strips oxygen from the water and can lead to hypoxia.
The Red Sea’s celebrated clarity reflects a naturally nutrient-poor system. “The risk is amplified because the Red Sea is naturally oligotrophic. It is nutrient-poor and crystal clear,” Paiva said.
He added that wastewater releases and heavy rain events that trigger flash floods can push large nutrient loads into coastal waters in a short time.
In turn, those pulses can threaten biodiversity and the marine environment that underpins tourism investments along the Kingdom’s Red Sea coast.
Seeing low oxygen coming — rather than reacting after the fact — is the promise of new monitoring and analytics.
Paiva said high-accuracy oxygen data still relies on direct measurements collected during vessel surveys.
“We still depend heavily on classic vessel surveys,” he said. Teams deploy multiparameter sondes to profile the water column and collect water samples to establish a baseline.
“This ‘water-truthing’ remains the industry standard for high-accuracy data,” he said.
Saeed Al-Zahrani, general manager for Saudi Arabia at NetApp, said continuous data can help teams intervene earlier. “Oxygen depletion is rarely sudden; it tends to build over time when conditions line up,” he said.
Al-Zahrani said AI can flag anomalies, learn what “normal” looks like in specific locations, and generate short-horizon risk forecasts.
He added that it creates a decision window — guidance on when to increase sampling, where to focus response efforts, and when to tighten controls around discharges.
Coastal development that reduces oxygen risk starts, Duarte said, with what never reaches the sea.
Duarte said Saudi Arabia’s west coast investments have an advantage compared with older coastal destinations: the opportunity to design sustainability into projects from the outset rather than trying to retrofit after degradation becomes evident.
Duarte said nutrient control is a direct lever to reduce oxygen-depletion risk. “Achieve circular economies where organic products and nutrients are recycled and reused in the system to avoid discharging nutrients to the marine environment,” he said.
Al-Zahrani said wastewater and environmental systems produce huge volumes of information, but fragmentation can slow decisions.
He said connecting data in near real time can help detect problems earlier and anticipate load spikes tied to rainfall, tourism peaks, or industrial activity.
Reef resilience depends on reducing stress before heat and low oxygen overlap.
Duarte told Arab News: “Coral reefs are extremely vulnerable to oxygen depletion.” He added that it can contribute to bleaching and mortality in a warmer ocean.
He said marine heat waves can worsen oxygen stress by reducing oxygen solubility and limiting ventilation of subsurface waters, while increasing oxygen demands of organisms.
Duarte said reducing nutrient inputs and managing reefs to avoid excessive growth of seaweed can build resistance.
He also said models that account for how waves and currents interact with reef topography — work he said is being developed at KAUST — can help guide restoration toward sites more likely to remain oxygenated during heat stress.
