Bankers Are Pushing to Unlock Secret Data for Climate Loans (1)

As the finance industry faces mounting pressure to play its part in fighting the climate crisis in the developing world, bankers point to a significant hurdle—one the World Bank and other public sector financiers have yet to remove.

The problem, they say, is data.

Executives from banks, including Citigroup Inc., say they could offer better rates and access to some of the world’s most debt-stressed countries if the World Bank Group’s International Finance Corp., the European Investment Bank and a group of multilateral development banks grant them access to their data on $1.5 trillion in emerging market debt.

The Global Emerging Markets ...