World Bank Scales Up its Financing for Food Security with Additional $315 Million to Strengthen the Resilience of Food Systems across West Africa

WASHINGTON, July 29, 2022 – Some additional 2 million people will benefit from a second ghana-food-securityphase of the West Africa regional Food Systems Resilience Program (FSRP-2) approved today for a total amount of $315 million in International Development Association (IDA*) financing. FSRP-2 will support Chad, Ghana and Sierra Leone to increase their preparedness against food insecurity and to improve the resilience of their food systems. This comes at a moment where it is projected that approximately 38.3 million people in West Africa are projected to be in food security crisis.

Continue reading

World Bank Group Outlines Global Crisis Response Package to Help Developing Countries Navigate Multiple, Compounding Crises

WASHINGTON, August 3, 2022 – The World Bank Group (WBG) today announced details of its global crisis response package to help developing countries navigate multiple, compounding crises that are hitting the poor and most vulnerable the hardest.

“Multiple crises – including rising inflation, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, large macroeconomic imbalances, and the shortages of energy, fertilizer and food – are hammering developing countries” said World Bank Group President David Malpass. “The World Bank Group is responding with speed, scale and impact with financing to respond to food insecurity, protect people, preserve jobs, strengthen resilience, and restore growth.”

Continue reading

Women, Business and the Law 2022

Women, Business and the Law 2022 is the eighth in a series of annual studies measuring9781464818172.pdf the laws and regulations that affect women’s economic opportunity in 190 economies. The project presents eight indicators structured around women’s interactions with the law as they move through their careers: Mobility, Workplace, Pay, Marriage, Parenthood, Entrepreneurship, Assets, and Pension. Amid a global pandemic that threatens progress toward gender equality, ‘Women, Business and the Law 2022’ identifies barriers to women’s economic participation and encourages reform of discriminatory laws. This year, the study also includes pilot research related to childcare and implementation of the law. By examining the economic decisions women make throughout their working lives, as well as the pace of reform over the past 50 years, Women, Business and the Law makes an important contribution to research and policy discussions about the state of women’s economic empowerment. The indicators build evidence of the critical relationship between legal gender equality and women’s employment and entrepreneurship. Data in ‘Women, Business and the Law 2022’ are current as of October 1, 2021.

 

 

 

What You Need to Know About the Measurement, Reporting, and Verification (MRV) of Carbon Credits

A wide array of programs and markets around the world offer to deliver, buy, and sell  emissions reduction credits (ERCs) —commonly known as carbon credits—with mixed reactions and results. How can buyers know that the carbon credits they purchase are real? And how does the World Bank ensure that its emission reductions programs are fully inclusive and benefit the people and communities participating in them? We asked Andres Espejo, Senior Carbon Finance Specialist in the World Bank’s Climate Change Fund Management Unit, to explain the role of Measurement, Reporting and Verification (MRV) in calculating carbon credits.

What is MRV and why is MRV important to mitigation efforts?Climate-Explainer-Series-banner-with-WBG-COP27-branding

Measurement, Reporting, and Verification (MRV) refers to the multi-step process to measure the amount of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reduced by a specific mitigation activity, such as reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation, over a period of time and report these findings to an accredited third party. The third party then verifies the report so that the results can be certified and carbon credits can be issued.

Continue reading

The Future of Government: What does it mean for infrastructure finance?

Recognizing that governments across the globe find themselves at an important inflectionsolar_porwe_wb point—with overlapping crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic, the war in Ukraine and other conflicts, sharp economic slowdown, and the effects of climate change that will touch us all—the World Bank recently launched a report on The Future of Government.

Continue reading

How to manage the world’s fertilizers to avoid a prolonged food crisis

Hidden behind the worst global food crisis in a decade, fertilizer prices have skyrocketedag_blog_july_22_1140x500_1117767635_9d624e5836_o and remain volatile . This poses a serious threat to food security, as the planting season starts this summer. So far, the war in Ukraine has mostly affected countries importing wheat and corn. But many countries, including some major food exporters, are net fertilizer importers. Persistently high fertilizer prices may spread to a broader variety of crops including rice, a staple which has not yet seen war-related price hikes. We must act now to make fertilizers more accessible and affordable to avoid prolonging the food crisis.   

Continue reading

eC2: Opportunities and Benefits of Decarbonization through Enhanced Regional Electricity Trade in Central Asia

Deadline: 10-Aug-2022 at 11:59:59 PM (Eastern Time – Washington D.C.)

U.S. Electricity Output Rose 6.2% From A Year Earlier

The objective of this assignment is to review and assess country level energy demand and supply resources for the period of 2022-2060, develop/update regional power system optimization model, examine potential and benefits of electricity trade among Central Asian countries, and identify interconnection upgrades and potential new cross-border transmission projects that would support decarbonization in the region through scaling up of regional electricity trade in Central Asia. The assessment has to be carried out through comparison of the nationally optimized plan and the regionally optimized plan on each countrys generation development, including considering the latest commitments to carbon neutrality/NDCs, as , as well as World Bank Country Climate and Development Reports (CCDR) where applicable, nature of energy security considerations vs integration of regional options.

Continue reading