Over the last decades, the World Bank has not only introduced environmental policies and procedures to integrate good environmental management into its operations, but has also developed environmental assistance programs to help client countries integrate environmental issues into their development process, to address their pressing environmental challenges, and to help them implement global environmental conventions.
As part of its environmental assistance program, the Bank has developed a portfolio of projects with environmental objectives. These, however, represent only part of the Bank's environmental lending. Because environment is not a sector, much of the Bank's environmental lending is implemented in a sectoral context as part of sector projects for rural and urban development, water and sanitation, transport, energy, and so on.
There has been an unequivocal trend toward increased environmental lending as part of sector projects. The Environment Strategy has reinforced the mainstreaming of environment into sector lending by stressing the need for cross-sectoral approaches to environmental issues.
In addition, or often in connection with, the Bank's lending portfolio, the Global Environment Facility (GEF), the Multilateral Fund for the Montreal Protocol and other grant facilities provide financing - often in connection with partnerships - for projects and programs with global environmental benefits.
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