If we are to honour the main commitment of the Paris Agreement — keeping the rise in global temperatures within +2°C and aiming to stay within +1.5°C — the most urgent thing to do is halt coal power plants. And not only that. The focus must be on resilience, green finance, energy efficiency and low-CO2 development plans for every country.

Resounding support for what environmentalists have long been saying comes from World Bank president Jim Yong Kim who, speaking at the World Bank and International Monetary Fund's 2016 Climate Ministerial Meeting in Washington, said that "there is no way to achieve the targets set under the historic Paris Agreement on climate change if the current coal power plant projects go ahead, particularly those planned in Asia."

The targets set by the Paris Agreement to curb climate change will therefore be achievable if the world stops building coal-fired power plants and adopts five lines of action that sound surprisingly "green." Surprisingly, in relative terms: back in 2015, the World Bank had already announced that the funds available for climate-protection projects would rise to 29 billion dollars a year.

Jim Yong Kim set out five points to place at the heart of national and international policy in order to make the Paris Agreement on CO2 emissions reductions truly effective. On these five points, he invited all ministers around the world to count on the World Bank for support in implementing them.

First, we need to embed climate ambitions in every country's development plans. The second area to focus on is a combination of improving the energy efficiency of household appliances and phasing out hydrofluorocarbons, or HFCs. A third major area of action — and perhaps the most urgent — is slowing the growth of coal power plants. The fourth area is greening the financial sector. The fifth area is adaptation and resilience.

The head of the World Bank is thus urging ministers to urgently accelerate the transition towards a low-carbon society, adding: "Many countries want to move in the right direction. We can and must all help find energy-efficiency and renewable-energy solutions that allow them to phase out coal. The key to all of this is creating an appropriate policy framework, building the right business environment, developing good practices such as solar auctions, and reducing the risk of investments in clean energy technologies. Private-sector interest in renewables is picking up, but to accelerate that interest a major increase in financial incentives will be needed."

Beyond the brake on coal plants, bespoke plans are needed for each individual developing country. The World Bank president called on ministers to allocate and distribute the financing agreed in Paris in 2015, which is necessary for a rapid transition to low-carbon technology. For Kim, it is essential that all countries adopt ambitious climate plans: "Over the next 15 years, infrastructure spending planned across the world will amount to more than 90 trillion dollars, more than has been invested to date. And the majority of this will take place in developing countries. It is vital to ensure that these investments are low-carbon and climate-resilient." In other words, it is important that public investments be oriented towards building resilience to climate change.

Jim Yong Kim called on governments to increase adaptation and resilience to climate change, which could otherwise push more than 100 million people into extreme poverty by 2030.

The complete elimination of hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) could reduce the growth of global temperatures by half a degree by the end of the century. HFCs were used in refrigerators and air conditioners, but new technologies have made it possible to eliminate them, bringing benefits for the climate and an increase in energy efficiency.

"Many countries want to move in the right direction; we can and must all contribute to finding solutions that harness renewables and look to energy efficiency to get rid of coal," he stated.

And finally, green finance: "The sector must align itself with the goal of assessing climate risks and opportunities."