Trillions of US dollars in investments are needed for the energy transition and climate adaptation in the Global South. The World Bank cannot finance this alone, said Ajay Banga recently, a candidate for the World Bank presidency. Therefore, the development bank would have to raise private capital. One of the tasks of a reformed World Bank would be to reduce the risk of climate investments in developing countries, thus enabling the private sector to invest in the climate sector „on a large scale“. For example, the World Bank could take a first-loss position on loans, Banga said. Loan defaults would thus hit the World Bank first, while private investors would have more security.