Other ESW Reports
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Assessing Technologies to Accelerate the Process of Monitoring, Reporting, and Verifying Emission Reductions Programs
2025-02-11, Aguilar-Amuchastegui, Naikoa, Belenky, Lucas Gregory, Burt, Andrew, Becerra Leal, Catalina, Galindo, Gustavo, Botero, Maria Fernanda Jaramillo, Kiesslich, Norman, Matteson, Ryan, Michel Fuentes, Jose Maria, Peneva-Reed, Ellie, Vilca, Beisit Luz Puma, Sanchez, Natalie, Soares, Muri, Odorico, Hercilo, Osterbur, Nicholas, Perez Lara, Martin, Turriago, Juan, Espejo, Andres B.
This study explored the use of a state-of-the-art collection of high-quality in situ datasets, following best practices13 to inform biomass estimates derived through remote sensing. The intention was to circumvent (1) the challenge of extrapolating data coverage from plot-level to satellite-level (for example, for the entire ERP area) and (2) the limitations of using allometric equations to estimate biomass from national forest inventories. The ASA also explored a novel method of creating data synergies within a 50,000-hectare (ha) region of interest. It was expected that these processes would improve the accuracy and bias of estimates so they could be extrapolated to the larger ERP area with the support of colleagues from Sylvera.
Gender Assessment of São Tomé and PrÃncipe Tourism Sector
2025-01-29, World Bank
The assessment presents findings from comprehensive desk research, semi-structured interviews, and key informant interviews conducted in-person in São Tomé and PrÃncipe in September 2023. The report is structured as follows: Section 2 presents the methodology, including the assessment framework, data collection method and key stakeholders. Section 3 provides background on the country context and the status of gender equality in São Tomé and PrÃncipe. Section 4 presents a gender gap analysis in women’s employment, entrepreneurship, and leadership. Section 5 dives into the ecosystem and stakeholder assessment. Finally, Section 6 lists priority areas for women in tourism and provides recommendations to be considered in the context of the upcoming World Bank projects.
Türkiye’s Circular Economy Transition in the EU’s Global Value Chain Ecosystem
2025-01-17, World Bank
This report examines the transition of Turkish firms to align with circular economy (CE) principles, highlighting both immediate needs and the longer-term opportunities from engaging in a transition agenda. The report stresses that the changing landscape toward the CE in the European Union (EU) offers a significant strategic opportunity for Türkiye to strengthen its position in global markets and build resilience against economic shocks.
Global Gas Flaring Tracker Report
2024-12-09, World Bank
The Tracker report for 2024 comes as a global sense of urgency is taking hold. At the end of last year, the 2023 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP28) again underscored the importance of transitioning away from unabated oil and gas. At the same time, oil and gas will continue to play a material role in the global energy system until at least 2050. This places the burden of responsibility on operators to ensure that oil and gas are produced as cleanly as possible during the energy transition. It is clear that routine gas flaring also continues to represent a lost opportunity to provide communities around the world with much-needed energy security and a cleaner source of power. This business-as-usual practice of pursuing oil production with little consideration for the potential use of associated gas is not just polluting, it is immensely wasteful. To support countries with the least resources and capacity to address greenhouse gas emissions from the oil and gas sector, the World Bank has launched the Global Flaring and Methane Reduction (GFMR) Partnership. GFMR builds on the legacy of the Global Gas Flaring Reduction Partnership and broadens the scope to include providing support for gas flaring and methane emissions reduction along the entire oil and gas value chain.
Implementing FPIC Stakeholder Engagement in Geothermal Projects: Technical Guidelines
2025-02-07, World Bank
Indonesia has enormous potential and challenges in terms of development and renewable energy. Significant developments will necessitate using new energy sources such as solar, water, wind, and geothermal. However, renewable energy production and transition affect, and are affected by, the surrounding population throughout the project’s life, including indigenous peoples (IP) many of whom retain deep cultural ties and rely on the natural resources of their home territories. Meaningful stakeholder engagement (SE) is becoming more widely acknowledged as an essential component of social risk management. This is because it assists projects in obtaining a social license to operate and reduces the potential risk of rejection from affected people or criticism from civil society. A good understanding of how enhanced meaningful SE can lead to free, prior, and informed consent (FPIC) and what additional activities and documentation are needed to meet FPIC requirements will help renewable energy projects overcome potential social risks while minimizing compliance risks. A heightened awareness of international good practice on SE and FPIC in the renewable energy sector will also have a spill-over effect in other sectors since many principles, processes, and procedures on meaningful SE and FPIC are similar across sectors. These technical guidelines (TG) aim at assisting development practitioners tasked with the social safeguards of development projects that significantly affect IP and or face major stakeholder risks. The TG can help them implement policy requirements for pursuit of FPIC as a form of enhanced SE.
Digital Trade for Development
2025-01-22, International Monetary Fund, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, United Nations, World Bank, World Trade Organization
This report explores the opportunities and challenges for developing economies arising from digital trade and discusses the role of international cooperation in tackling these opportunities and challenges. The report considers policy actions in the areas of digital infrastructure, skills, international support for capacity development, and the regulatory and policy environment. Specific policy issues include the WTO e-commerce moratorium, regulation of cross-border data flows, competition policies, and consumer protection.
Disaster Risk Management and Gender: The Case of Jamaica
2025-01-13, Natalicchio, Marcela
This country profile analyzes gender gaps in the disaster risk management (DRM) agenda in Jamaica that influence the exposure and vulnerability, preparedness, and coping capacity of different populations. Identified gender gaps need to be considered when preparing and implementing DRM policies, programs, and projects before, during, and after disasters strike to improve their effectiveness and equity.
Extreme Weather, Extreme Costs: Building Malawi’s Financial Resilience in a Changing Climate
2025-01-30, Reserve Bank of Malawi, World Bank
Climate risk management in Malawi's financial sector is a pressing issue that demands immediate attention. Globally, the urgency of addressing climate change is escalating, and many African countries are taking proactive steps to mitigate its financial implications. Kenya, Tanzania, and Morocco, among others, have already implemented supervisory guidelines for climate risk management to safeguard their financial systems and economies. The Reserve Bank of Malawi (RBM), recognizing the critical importance of this issue, has similarly initiated the development of climate risk supervisory guidelines for banks and are considering doing the same for the insurance sector. To inform these policy efforts, RBM, with the support of the World Bank, conducted this assessment to better understand the impacts of climate change on the insurance and banking sectors in Malawi. This report’s analysis is the first of its kind for Malawi, and one of the first climate-related financial risk analyses in the Africa region that looks at the impact of climate change on the insurance sector in addition to the banking sector. The ultimate objective of this report is to build a roadmap for RBM to better assess and manage climate-related financial risks for banks and insurers.
Economic, Trade, and Industry Implications of the Circular Economy Transition in Türkiye
2025-01-21, World Bank
Economic and population growth over the past 50 years have increased global natural resource use to levels that severely affect human well-being. In Türkiye, as elsewhere, economic and population growth have been accompanied by increasing levels of material consumption and waste. The need to transition away from current linear resource use patterns is conceptualized and promoted within the circular economy (CE) concept. Türkiye recognizes that it must transition to a more circular and material-efficient growth model. Türkiye launched its zero-waste initiative in 2017, and the CE is flagged as a priority in the 2021 economic reform program. A successful CE transition in Türkiye will also help the European Union (EU) achieve its CE goals of enhancing material efficiency and reducing environmental impact. A significant portion of the EU’s material consumption and footprint is based on imports, with 11 percent of domestic material consumption and nearly 36 percent of the total footprint being imported. This report highlights the importance of a deliberate, strategic, and articulated approach toward transitioning the Turkish economy to a CE, blending immediate actionable steps with a forward-looking long-term strategy. By moving forward with flexibility and vision, Türkiye can use its distinct advantages to not only respond to the changing global economy but also to lead in sustainable innovation and resilience, establishing a model for others in the worldwide move toward a more circular and thriving future.
The Markets and Competition Policy Assessment Toolkit
2025-01-09, World Bank
The markets and competition policy assessment toolkit (MCPAT) is a guide for understanding how policy can positively shape markets and address market failures that ultimately affect micro- and macroeconomic development issues. The MCPAT aims to support policymakers, competition authorities, and development finance institutions in realizing the advantages of competitive and well-functioning markets by setting the right conditions for firms to improve their economic performance and for markets to allocate resources efficiently. Competitive and well-functioning markets do not just benefit consumers, - they benefit entire economies as they promote productivity, innovation, efficiency, and consumer choice. The goal is not simply to increase the number of firms in a market or to restrict market power but to create an environment where competition can thrive, firms can innovate, and markets can function optimally. The structure of this toolkit follows the steps to conduct an MCPAT analysis in a specific sector or market. Part I provides an overview of key concepts that set the basis for conducting the MCPAT analysis and covers the first step of the MCPAT. Part II focuses on diagnosing market issues. Part III is about how to fix markets.