The president of the World Bank has faced calls to resign after refusing to acknowledge fossil-fuel burning is warming the planet.

World Bank president David Malpass was appointed in 2019 by former US president Donald Trump. 

During a climate event hosted by the New York Times last week, he refused to say whether he believed the burning of coal, oil and gas could be warming the planet.

Mr Malpass was asked if he agreed that “man-made burning of fossil fuels is rapidly and dangerously warming the planet”.

He dodged the question several times before saying: “I don't even know. I'm not a scientist”.

This caused environmental groups around the world to revive existing calls for his term (set to end in 2024) to be cut short. Over 70 non-governmental organisations jointly called for him to be replaced, citing a lack of action. The comments also rekindled concerns about the World Bank's lack of a deadline to stop funding fossil fuels.

Mr Malpass then sought to clarify his views in an interview on CNN International.

“I'm not a denier,” Mr Malpass told CNN International.

“It's clear that greenhouse gas emissions are coming from man-made sources, including fossil fuels, methane, the agricultural uses, the industrial uses, so we're working hard to change that,” he said.

The World Bank says it has not made any coal investments since 2010, and agreed in 2013 to limit financing of coal-fired power plants. The Bank says it stopped funding upstream oil and gas operations in 2019.

However, it continues to resist pressure from European board members and climate campaigners to phase out fossil-fuel financing entirely.

The Bank's board approved a US$620 million (AU$947 million) investment in a liquefied natural gas project in Mozambique last year.