Global Insider<\/a> author Ryan Heath. NGOs and leading climate activists have been calling for Malpass to step down after he repeatedly dodged questions about the science behind climate change at a New York Times event Tuesday.<\/p>\n\u201cI don’t even know \u2014 I’m not a scientist,\u201d he said at the event.<\/p>\n
On Friday, Malpass apologized for those remarks.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen asked, \u2018Are you a climate denier?\u2019 I should\u2019ve said no,\u201d Malpass said, adding later, \u201cIt was a poorly chosen line, I regret that, because we as an organization are using the science every day.\u201d<\/p>\n
None of the 187 countries that are members of the World Bank have asked him to resign, Malpass said, and shareholders have voiced \u201cstrong support, for me, for the World Bank,\u201d he told Heath.<\/p>\n
Malpass also said he would \u201cabsolutely\u201d accept training from climate scientists to improve his knowledge of the science behind climate change.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat wasn\u2019t a good phrase for me to use,\u201d Malpass reiterated. \u201cWe have a lot of input from our global scientific community.\u201d<\/p>\n