World Bank, Climate Change and Energy Financing

This report discusses what the World Bank Group is doing throughout the globe concerning climate and energy and challenges its rhetoric on sustainability and poverty alleviation. It further describes the Group's  financing and the impacts of this funding on the ground. By examining these cases, a number of troubling trends emerge. With its legacy of environmental and social harm, evasion of safeguards and accountability, and a questionable track record on reducing poverty - as demonstrated in the following case studies - it is no longer business as usual for the World Bank. Without a dramatic transformation, the Bank is in danger of failing to live up to its motto of “Working for a world free of poverty”, while undermining any attempts it makes to claim leadership in halting climate change and hastening the transition to low-carbon economies.