AT A GLANCE: The World Bank’s Environment Strategy (formulated in 2001, updated in 2007) addresses the links between the environment, poverty, and development with a particular emphasis on improving the quality of life, improving the quality of growth, and protecting the quality of the regional and global commons.
Sustainably improving the health and livelihoods of the poorest and most vulnerable people and communities lies at the heart of the Strategy.
The World Bank’s priorities are aligned with commitments established by the global community at the Millennium Summit in 2000 and the Johannesburg Summit on Sustainable Development in 2002. They are also aligned with the Millennium Ecosystems Assessment (MEA) published in 2005.
How is the World Bank Helping Developing Countries Protect Their Environment? By “Greening” Investments. Environmental and natural resource management (ENRM) activities are increasingly being integrated into sectoral (agriculture, water sanitation, urban, etc.) projects. As much as 85 percent of ENRM portfolio projects are currently being managed by non-environmental sectors in the Bank, indicating the extent of environmental mainstreaming. During Fiscal Year 2008 (ended June 30, 2008), the World Bank approved 68 projects with ENRM content amounting to $2.66 billion in commitments, representing about 10.8 percent of total Bank new lending. On average, ENRM activities have accounted for about 8.6 percent of total Bank new lending over the past five years.
The two largest new lending projects with ENRM themes were (1) Climate Change DPL in Mexico (total loan amount: $501 million) and (2) Energy Efficiency Financing Project in China (total loan amount: $200 million).
As of end-FY08, the total active portfolio of projects with ENRM activities amounted to $11.15 billion—representing about 10.6 percent of the total Bank portfolio. Of this, the core ENRM portfolio (projects with more than 65 percent ENRM content) amounted to $3.6 billion in commitments.
| Environmental and Natural Resources Management New Lending FY04-08 |  |
Through Advice, Technical Assistance & Training. Country Environmental Analyses (CEA) andStrategic Environmental Assessments (SEA) help countries to incorporate environmental considerations in national development and sector policies, strategies and plans enhancing their sustainability. A review of completed CEAs shows they have contributed to informing policy reforms (e.g., Colombia), identifying lending operations (e.g., Bangladesh, Egypt, Tunisia, Peru, Ghana), integrating environment into Country Assistance Strategies (Egypt) and Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers (e.g., Bangladesh), informing Development Policy Lending (DPLs) (e.g., Guatemala, El Salvador and Orissa), contributing to institutional and organizational changes (e.g., Tunisia) and improving donor coordination (e.g., Ghana, Egypt, Tunisia). In a period of six years, CEAs have been mainstreamed in the Bank with some 40 completed, ongoing, or planned. A multi-donor Trust Fund has also been established to support preparation of CEAs. Ongoing work on piloting institution-centered SEAs has been carried out in a range of different regions, mostly Africa and South Asia, and sectors, including mining, transport, trade, forestry, and urban development. Rich experience is being accumulated in applying institution-centered approaches to development policy lending, sector structural reforms, economic integration policies and large and complex development plans. The main result emerging is that while policy and planning reforms open a window of opportunity for enhancing the sustainability of country development efforts, effectively incorporating environmental considerations in strategic decision making depends on influencing an array of institutional and governance factors, including a country’s existing institutional capacity and the political economy that shapes stakeholders’ ability to advance their interests and make their concerns heard by policy makers. To draw lessons from these pilots, the Bank has started an evaluation of the pilots in partnership with the Environmental Economics Unit of the University of Gothenburg (Sweden ), the Swedish EIA Centre, and the Netherlands Commission for Environmental Assessment under the umbrella of the OECD DAC SEA task team. In several countries (e.g., Colombia, Tunisia, Ghana, Peru ), studies analyzing costs of environmental degradation have been used to systematically prioritize environmental issues and also to raise their profile with decision makers in sector ministries, including ministries of finance. More recently, studies on the impacts of climate change and the options to adapt to current and expected future weather variability have helped inform dialogue on response options. By Helping to Protect the Global Environment Development and Climate Change: A Strategic Framework for the World Bank Group. Adaptation to climate variability and change will be at the center of WBG support to developing countries, because it is critical to sustaining and furthering development gains. Building on the WBG’s core mandate and competencies, the Framework, produced over the last year through extensive consultations with a full range of stakeholders, will help the IDA, IBRD, IFC, and MIGA increase the effectiveness and benefits of their support to developing countries. It is important to stress that resources will not be diverted from financing core development needs. The WBG will focus on helping its clients acquire additional financial resources, technology, technical assistance, and knowledge for adaptation and mitigation—and use them well in their national, regional, and local development programs with mitigation and/or adaptation co-benefits. The Climate Investment Funds (CIFs) were approved by the World Bank Board of Executive Directors on July 1 and have received commitments from donors exceeding US$6 billion. The CIFs will utilize the skills and capabilities of the multilateral development banks (MDBs) to deliver financing at significant scale to unleash the potential of the public and private sectors to address climate change, will complement other multilateral financial mechanisms, such as the Global Environment Facility and the Adaptation Fund, and include a “sunset clause” to avoid prejudging the future of the climate change regime. Carbon Finance for Development. Carbon Finance at the World Bank has expanded from a prototype engagement in the emerging trade of greenhouse gas emission reductions to an increasingly mainstream activity for supporting sustainable development. The Bank’s pioneering engagement in carbon finance started with the establishment of the US$180 million Prototype Carbon Fund (PCF) in 1999. This was rapidly followed by the establishment of other funds and facilities as the Kyoto Protocol was ratified. Today, the World Bank manages just over US$2 billion across 10 carbon funds and facilities. Sixteen governments and 66 private companies from various sectors have made financial contributions to these funds. In December 2007, the World Bank launched two additional facilities, the Forest Carbon Partnership Facility(FCPF) and the Carbon Partnership Facility (CPF), aimed at increasing the flow of benefits to vulnerable communities. Global Environment Facility (GEF). Since the inception of the GEF, the World Bank Group has mobilized $4.02 billion from the GEF (by end fiscal year 2008) in programs to address biodiversity conservation, climate change, ozone depleting substances, land degradation, POPs, and international waters. In Fiscal Year 2008, some 39 new GEF projects to be implemented through the World Bank were approved representing $345 million in GEF financing. Multilateral Fund for the Implementation of the Montreal Protocol (MLF). The MLF helps developing countries to eliminate the production and consumption of ozone-depleting chemicals. As an MLF implementing agency for the past 17 years, the Bank has received approvals for more than 650 investment and technical and institutional assistance projects worth nearly $891 million as of the end-June 2008. In the 2007 calendar year alone, the World Bank received project approvals totaling $66.8 million. Partnerships. The Bank is engaged in numerous partnerships with other development agencies, civil society, and private sector organizations. Examples include the Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund (CEPF), which safeguards biodiversity hotspots; TerrAfrica, which works to address land degradation and increase sustainable land management throughout Sub-Saharan Africa; and the Global Partnership for Environmental Governance/PP10, which supports efforts by NGOs and governments to improve transparency in environmental decision-making. In-House Efforts. In 2006, as part of its commitment to environmental and social responsibility, and to contribute to efforts aimed at addressing climate change, the World Bank became the first multilateral development bank to become carbon neutral. The World Bank’s Washington, D.C., facilities, business travel, and conference facilities, travel, and hotels for delegates associated with the Spring and Annual Meetings are carbon neutral through a strategy of energy efficiency and reduction measures, carbon offsetting, and green power purchases. In addition, the Bank has committed to an annual carbon emissions reduction target of 7 percent for our US-based building operations—complementing a broader initiative to estimate the carbon intensity of selected lending operations. ___________________ The approvals in FY2005 were atypically high as they included two large Environmental Development Policy Lending (DPL) projects: First Programmatic Reform Loan for Environmental Sustainability in Brazil ($503 million) and Programmatic DPL for Sustainable Development in Colombia ($150 million). - ### - For more information, please see the website: www.worldbank.org/environment Media Contacts: Robert Bisset: (202) 458-5191 Email: rbisset@worldbank.org Jeff Brez: (202) 458-7628 Email: jbrez@worldbank.org Roger Morier: (202) 473-5675 Email: rmorier@worldbank.org
Updated October 2008 |
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