World Bank Blah Blah Pilot Project Blah Financial Climate Assistance Blah Blah Blah

SÃO PAULO, Brazil — The World Bank signed an agreement on Wednesday with mayors from 40 of the world’s biggest cities to work on technical and financial assistance for projects to minimize the effects of climate change.

The deal, announced at the C40 large cities climate meeting here, will ease access to financing for climate-change-reduction projects. It was hailed by many of the mayors, including Michael R. Bloomberg of New York City, and by former President Bill Clinton, who attended the event as part of a new partnership with Mr. Bloomberg.

“The World Bank announcement is terrifically important,” Mr. Clinton said. “It will give credibility to these projects to get private capital.”

The agreement will make it easier for investors who have been hesitant to finance projects to assess city action plans by providing a standard approach, said Robert B. Zoellick, the World Bank’s president. It will also provide a common way to measure and report on the greenhouse gas emissions of cities, easing access to carbon financing, he said. No single standard exists for reporting citywide carbon emissions.

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http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/02/science/earth/02climate.html?_r=1