David Malpass: I'm not a climate denier

David Malpass: I’m Not a Climate Denier | GZERO World

World Bank President David Malpass has come under a political firestorm over his views on climate change science. But is he a climate denier?

No way, he tells Ian Bremmer on GZERO World when asked about the elephant in the room. Meanwhile, the institution Malpass leads has, among many priorities, two big crises to deal with: energy and food.

Malpass laments how Russia's war in Ukraine has hurt climate progress by creating more appetite for fossil fuels. Why? Countries are hungry for energy, and even Europe is scouring the world for more coal and natural gas.

And what about food? For the World Bank chief, whether we have enough to feed the world next year depends on two variables: the weather and how big producers like China, India, and the US respond to global shortages.

Watch the GZERO World episode: Can the world avoid a global recession?

More from GZERO Media

Palestinian children look at rubble following Israeli forces' withdrawal from the area, after Israel and Hamas agreed on the Gaza ceasefire, in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip, October 10, 2025.
REUTERS/Ramadan Abed

Israel approved the Gaza ceasefire deal on Friday morning, bringing the ceasefire officially into effect. The Israeli military must withdraw its forces to an agreed perimeter inside Gaza within 24 hours, and Hamas has 72 hours to return the hostages.

- YouTube

French President Emmanuel Macron is scrambling to pull France out of a deepening political free fall that’s already toppled five prime ministers in two years. Tomorrow he’ll try again—and this time, says Eurasia Group’s Mujtaba Rahman, the fifth pick might finally stick.

In these photos, emergency units carry out rescue work after a Russian attack in Ternopil and Prikarpattia oblasts on December 13, 2024. A large-scale Russian missile attack on Ukraine's energy infrastructure left half of the consumers in the Ternopil region without electricity, the Ternopil Regional State Administration reported.
U.S. President Donald Trump takes part in a welcoming ceremony with China's President Xi Jinping at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China, November 9, 2017.
REUTERS/Damir Sagolj

China has implemented broad new restrictions on exports of rare earth and other critical minerals vital for semiconductors, the auto industry, and military technology, of which it controls 70% of the global supply.