Mission to Rewrite World Bank Group Playbook Advances with Banga’s Global Tour

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WASHINGTON, June 8, 2023—The World Bank Group announced today a months-long global tour for new president Ajay Banga, an early step in his mission to write a new playbook for the 78-year-old institution.

Between now and December 2023, Banga will visit multiple countries in every region where the World Bank Group operates. During the impact-focused tour, Banga will work to reimagine strategic partnerships with other multilateral banks and development organizations, work to identify barriers for private sector investment, deepen the relationships between the World Bank Group and the countries it serves, and identify opportunities to maximize impact through knowledge, financing, and technical assistance.

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Hiding in plain sight: The missing trillions for climate change

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In debates about how to finance the growing bill for climate change, many worry where we hero_factory.jpg can find the money.

There is reason to worry. As part of the Paris Agreement, the world’s wealthier countries reaffirmed their commitment to mobilize at least $100 billion of climate financing annually to help developing countries to adapt to climate change, invest in renewable energies and achieve low-carbon development. But getting there is a work in progress. 

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What Counts as Climate? Preliminary Evidence from the World Bank’s Climate Portfolio

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Dear Reader,

We wanted to let you know about our new study, published this week by the Center for Global Development and the Breakthrough Institute.

Climate finance at the World Bank is a hot topic, with major shareholders pushing for reforms that would have the Bank substantially expand its climate lending. But so far the discussion has focused much more on how much money the Bank can lend, rather than where that money is going.

With our colleague Guido Núñez-Mujica, we examined 2,554 projects between 2000 and 2022 that the World Bank includes in its climate portfolio, including 2,047 projects tagged specifically as climate mitigation. We found that the Bank has a climate portfolio skewed towards mitigation, both in middle-income countries and in energy-poor, low-income countries. 

We also found that hundreds of projects tagged climate—many in poorer countries—appear to have little to do with either climate change mitigation or adaptation, from teacher training to improving healthcare access for girls. $15 billion worth of the Bank’s climate finance portfolio is attributed to projects where climate accounts for less than 20 percent of the project’s value, and there typically is no climate rationale offered to support the climate tags in these cases. Further, most of the mitigation projects tagged as 100 percent climate lack estimates of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reductions, and there is no standardized reporting on GHG estimates across the portfolio.

What does this mean? It’s clear that reporting on climate programming at the Bank is still in its infancy. With immense pressure on the institution to scale up climate lending, it’s important that the Bank’s shareholders and climate advocates apply scrutiny to how the World Bank is spending its climate money, not just how it is raising it.

You can read the full paper here, and a shorter analysis of what we found here.

In Ghana, Sustainable Cocoa-Forest Practices Yield Carbon Credits

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STORY HIGHLIGHTSCocoaRodney-QuarcooWorld-Bank

  • Cocoa farmers in Ghana are improving yields and mitigating climate change by adopting climate-smart cocoa practices while curbing deforestation.
  • Ghana has earned $4.8 million for reducing nearly 1 million tons of carbon emissions caused by deforestation and forest degradation—with up to $45 million expected by the end of 2024.
  • Ghana and other countries are generating high-quality, high-integrity jurisdictional carbon credits to realize their climate goals and gain access to international carbon markets.

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The role of ethical leadership in curbing corruption

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As much as researchers try to isolate the factors of success in controlling corruption,blog-wbginstitutionsculture-hero-0623.jpg whether it be at a national scale or that of a particular organization, there is always a residual unexplained element. It may be attributed to culture, systems, or other factors, but one catalytic ingredient is almost always leadership.

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We can’t have a world without poverty in a world with plastic pollution

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When future generations share the story of plastic pollution, it will include graphic images of plastics_blog_1140x500shutterstock_2176244901.jpgturtles choking on plastic debris, zooming out to show beaches and communities laden with trash, and panning to medical reports showing microplastic in the average person’s bloodstream.  This is a story that started as an environmental crisis, and quickly became an economic and health crisis. And it’s a story that intersects with the triple planetary crises we are grappling with today: biodiversity, climate, and pollution. We are on the brink of writing the next important chapter in this story.

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Transition to clean energy for all – Step by Step

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The upcoming Summit for a New Global Financing Pact will bring together global leaders to energy.jpglook at how international financing can bring solutions to countries facing mounting crises from climate change to poverty and pandemics.   This is an opportune time to focus on how international finance can jumpstart the clean energy transition, especially for the countries most vulnerable to climate change.

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Climate Change in Africa

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How the private sector is rising to meet the challenges of a global crisis

Across Africa, the private sector is rising to the pressing challenges posed by the bird-s-eye-view-of-the-kahone-solar-plant-994x604global climate crisis.

From housing and energy to transport and agriculture, businesses on the continent are delivering strategies, technologies, and projects that are reducing the human impact on the environment, while supporting jobs, reducing poverty, and furthering development.

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Weakening Growth, Financial Risks

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Global Economic Prospects

Global growth is projected to slow significantly amid high inflation, tight monetary policy, and GEP-2023b-Front-Covermore restrictive credit conditions. The possibility of more widespread bank turmoil and tighter monetary policy could result in even weaker global growth and lead to financial dislocations in the most vulnerable emerging market and developing economies (EMDEs). Comprehensive policy action is needed to foster macroeconomic and financial stability. Among many EMDEs, and especially in low-income countries, bolstering fiscal sustainability will require generating higher revenues, making spending more efficient, and improving debt management practices. Continued international cooperation is also necessary to tackle climate change, support populations affected by crises and hunger, and provide debt relief where needed.

Executive Summary

Full Report

 

 

Want More Investment in African Infrastructure? Think Better Quality Institutions

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An Article on How Institutional Reform Can Attract More Private Investment in Infrastructure.

A greater focus on regulatory quality and institutional reforms would bring much-needed extra private sector investment in Sub-Saharan Africa’s infrastructure, a new IFC study finds. Improvements in areas like strengthening the rule of law and lowering corruption levels would boost private investment by up to 0.8 percent of GDP over four years—or $20 billion. The benefits would reverberate across sectors including energy, environment, municipal services, telecommunications, information technology, transportation, and water

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