*Phew* finally someone does something serious about climate change!

Let's not lie - it was getting a bit worrying there. All this talk of coal power plants, world cup stadiums made of concrete, BRT's instead of bicycles - the list was seemingly endless - and dire for the climate.

BUT, there is a ray of hope on the horizon and it comes in the unlikely form of the World Bank. A revolutionary counter note here - this is the NEW world bank (ie, sans all those bloated colonial masters of yesteryear who are intent on never seeing South Africa develop anyway - don't think we Africans didn't notice your sneaky skyving off US, Netherlands, UK, Italy and Norway! Although we may remember you at some point when we are economic power houses for not actually voting no).

Yes the NEW WB have seen the errors of their old incarnations ways, and have decided to loan (well, no they couldn't just give money away - that creates dependency) South Africa 3.75 billion US DOLLARS!!!! Talk about the jackpot! Before I get carried away, let me not forget to share the really big news, what the money is for:

Ruth Kagia, World Bank country director for South Africa (ie, she sits just above JZ) said the Eskom project offered a unique opportunity for the World Bank Group to strengthen its partnership with the government of South Africa, Eskom, and other financiers "and help South Africa chart a path toward meeting its commitment on climate change while meeting people's urgent energy needs".

As if that wasn't enough, the real NEW WB WOman (of course - and hey, none of that reverse sexism here!) Obiageli K Ezekwesili, World Bank vice president for Africa said: "Our support to Eskom combines much-needed investments to boost generation capacity for growing small and large businesses [we'll come back to this point... never], creating jobs and helping lay the foundations for a clean energy future through investments in solar and wind power."

Did I tell you they were NEW or what??? I trust by this stage you are as excited about this whole pro-poor, pro-environment, pro-democracy, pro-life deal as I am! And with all the hype, you can only imagine that at least 3.7 billion of the 3.75 total is going to renewables right? Well, you wouldn't be very wrong at all! But it's not that exact figure, let's take a closer look:

WOAH, not that close! Oh, you're actually interested in the "figures"? Oh well, here's a breakdown:

0.75bn - RENEWABLES!!!
3bn - Coal fired power plant (well, that's part of the 17bn needed for the plant)
0.75bn - RENEWABLES!!! Oh, did I say that already? but look this time it's not in bold :-)

Go NEW WB Go! What, you want to know the breakdown of the renewables part do you? Look, there's a bn after the renewables figure! No? Still want a breakdown huh? You bloody agent, don't touch me on my studio!

Okay, so:

0.75bn =
TWO HUNDRED AND SIXTY MILLION DOLLARS for wind and solar projects! THAT IS 26 (yes, TWENTY SIX) Darling wind farms! What? Yes, their are only 4 turbines at Darling. No, that doesn't include any solar.... or consultancy fees... Chief, get this thing out of here.
oh, and 485mil on a railway "to transport coal with fewer greenhouse gas emissions".

So of 3.75bn, only 0.26bn is for actual renewables? C'mon, that's almost a whopping 7%!

And corruption I hear you say? Nope, no worries there, the NEW WB has a dedicated team of grade 2 accountants (SA School system grades...) to ensure any corruption is totally overlooked. For instance there have been elements in the media (we have your bank account details) that have been telling people about the ANC's holdings (which is private information I might add) of Hitachi Africa, who are making the boilers for the plant.

Sarwat Hussein, senior spokesperson for the World Bank's Africa region, quickly sorts this out: "The Hitachi component is not part of what we are financing. We were not party to awarding a contract, and we are not a party to its payment". See? What did I tell you, these guys are stellar - you can't even pin trumped up charges of corruption to them.

So, now that the NEW WB is here to stay, we can only be thankful that "Energy insecurity and climate change are two of the most significant development challenges of our time," Hussein again, pointing out that only one in four Africans have access to energy (... and one in one have access to climate change, he quietly pointed the other way).