Sector/Thematic Studies

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Economic and Sectoral Work are original analytic reports authored by the World Bank and intended to influence programs and policy in client countries. They convey Bank-endorsed recommendations and represent the formal opinion of a World Bank unit on the topic. This set includes the sectoral and thematic studies which are not Core Diagnostic Studies. Other analytic and advisory activities (AAA), including technical assistance studies, are included in these sectoral/thematic collections.

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Now showing 1 - 10 of 37
  • Publication
    Cambodia: Recommendations to the National Roadmap for Electric Mobility Transition
    (Washington, DC: World Bank, 2024-03-22) World Bank
    In December 2021, the Royal Government of Cambodia (RGC) published Cambodia’s Long-Term Strategy for Carbon Neutrality (LTS4CN), which outlines the country’s vision in achieving a carbon-neutral economy by 2050. As part of the long-term strategies to achieve net-zero emissions, the RGC set targets for decarbonizing the transportation sector through a combination of measures, including electrifying 70 percent of motorcycles, and 40 percent of cars and urban buses by 2050. It also aims to have 30 percent of mode share by public transport in cities by 2050.
  • Publication
    Territorial Development: A Report on the Territorial Development Approach to Accelerate Economic Growth and Development in the Kingdom of Lesotho
    (Washington, DC: World Bank, 2024-03-21) World Bank
    This report begins with an Executive Summary, which introduces the territorial development approach and the rationale for applying it in Lesotho’s development context before going on to summarize key takeaways and recommendations. It is followed by four chapters: chapter 1, Introduction, lays out the country context, presenting in brief Lesotho’s economic and demographic situation, population projections, governmental structure, and poverty profile and the government’s goals. Chapter 2, territorial development framework and analysis in Lesotho, discusses the territorial development approach, its objectives, and the challenges it aims to address before presenting a customized 2 by 2 territorial framework for Lesotho and explaining how it can be applied. Chapter 3, analyzing Lesotho’s Challenges through a Territorial Lens, lays out a spatial analysis centering on four development challenges: economic opportunities, internal connectivity and regional integration, access to basic services, and climate preparedness. To highlight the challenges, the chapter includes 4D heat maps linked to density, distance, disparity, and disaster risk. It also summaries case studies and real-life applications of the territorial development approach in Lesotho. Full case studies are in an annex. Chapter 4, recommendations, covers guiding principles and recommendations based on the territorial development approach and analysis.
  • Publication
    Our Digital Earth - Insights and Opportunities from the World Settlement Footprint
    (Washington, DC: World Bank, 2024-03-20) World Bank; Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery (GFDRR)
    Earth observation is a crucial source of accurate and up-to-date information of Earth’s natural and manmade environments that are critical when planning for, responding to, and mitigating the effects of natural hazards. Satellites that regularly collect images of the entire globe combined—with machine learning algorithms to process them more efficiently—have the potential to provide timely, standardized, verifiable, and scalable information. This report focuses on the use of Earth observation to identify built-up areas exposed to natural hazards. It describes the World Settlement Footprint (WSF) suite of derived datasets, developed by the German Aerospace Center (DLR) in collaboration with the European Space Agency (ESA), the Google Earth Engine team, and the World Bank. These gridded datasets capture the extent of built-up areas from 1985–2015 and again for 2019, estimated building heights, impervious surfaces, and estimated population. Earth observation derived information is particularly useful for standardized and recurring World Bank operations. The report looks at several World Bank operations, and the key insights provided through analysis incorporating the various WSF suite products.
  • Publication
    Greening the Economy of Europe and Central Asia
    (Washington, DC: World Bank, 2024-02-08) World Bank
    The impacts of climate change are significantly affecting the Europe and Central Asia (ECA) region, with high carbon emissions due to its heavy reliance on fossil fuels and energy-intensive economies. To transition to clean energy, substantial private and public investment and diverse policies are necessary. Pricing reforms are necessary to incentivize the private sector to adopt decarbonization measures. Tax instruments are also needed. Regulatory policies, like mandating energy efficiency and improving appliance standards, will contribute to achieving emission reduction targets. Structural policies that strengthen macroeconomic fundamentals, deepen capital markets, and improve governance are crucial. Additionally, social policies to alleviate energy poverty are essential. Tailored policies based on each country's conditions are necessary to ensure sustainable and greener long-term growth in the ECA region. These policies should consider implementation costs and the tradeoffs between immediate environmental goals and long-term social benefits.
  • Publication
    Uganda Economic Update 21st Edition: Leveraging Sustainable Tourism to Support Growth & Diversification
    (Washington, DC, 2023-12-18) World Bank
    Economic activity in Uganda is accelerating despite commodity-price inflation, global monetary tightening, international supply-chain bottlenecks, and a local Ebola outbreak. Real GDP growth is estimated to reach 5.7 percent in FY22/23, albeit still below the pre-COVID-19 projection of 6.5 percent. Growth has been supported by a robust post-pandemic recovery in the services sector, bolstered by the rapid growth of information and communications technology. Real estate and construction also performed well, while agriculture suffered from droughts in some regions and heavy rains in others, as well as rising input costs. The recovery of income and employment bolstered demand, while private investment overcame tight domestic and global financial conditions to sustain increases in new exports and manufacturing orders into the third quarter of FY22/23. As growth accelerated, Uganda’s per capita income increased to about US$930 for FY21/22, edging closer to the lower-middle-income threshold.
  • Publication
    Indonesia Economic Prospects, December 2023: Climate Action for Development
    (World Bank, Washington, DC, 2023-12-13) World Bank
    Indonesia has been successful in navigating the macroeconomic fallout from asynchronous global shocks. Gross domestic product (GDP) growth remains strong though the economy is yet to fully recover to its pre-pandemic trajectory. This is consistent with labor market trends, which show a recovery in labor force participation and employment but a possible deterioration in jobs quality. Inflation has been brought under control following the effects of the energy price shocks in 2022, though new pressures are emerging from food supply risks and renewed oil price rises. External pressures have risen due to tight global financing conditions, which have triggered capital outflows and currency pressures across emerging markets including Indonesia. With resilient macroeconomic underpinnings and the end of the post-COVID recovery cycle, the policy focus turns again to the growth agenda.
  • Publication
    Silver Hues: Building Age-Ready Cities - EAP Regional Paper
    (World Bank, Washington, DC, 2023-10-24) Arai, Yuko
    Four major trends are shaping our world: demographic transition, urban expansion, technological advancement, and frequent shocks from health and climate emergencies. Among the demographic shifts, aging is particularly significant as life expectancy increases, and fertility rates decline. Additionally, the increasing urbanization of the world, with two-thirds of the population projected to live in cities by 2050, exacerbates the impact of aging on urban areas. Furthermore, the Fourth Industrial Revolution, characterized by widespread integration of information, communication, and technology into our daily lives, has a crucial role in the future of development. Lastly, the simultaneous occurrence of these trends, such as seen during the COVID-19 pandemic and growing natural disasters, is having a significant impact on cities, countries, and regions. The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) call for the creation of inclusive, safe, resilient, and sustainable cities. The World Bank report, “Silver Hues: Building Age-Ready Cities,” maps global trends and their implications for urban areas and aligns with SDG Goal 11 “Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable” and the “United Nations Decade of Healthy Ageing (2021-2030)”. It provides guidance for city governments on how to create age-ready cities, filling a gap in the policy research on aging in urban areas. This note has been curated from the Silver Hues report. It summarizes the report’s key analysis, insights and findings and is tailored for audiences interested in the East Asia Pacific (EAP) region.
  • Publication
    Building a Future for Women in South Asia’s Plastics Waste Management
    (World Bank, Washington, DC, 2023-10-10) World Bank; International Finance Corporation
    This report focuses on the role of key stakeholders (policy makers, waste management practitioners, civil society, informal workers’ organizations, and the private sector) in contributing to pollution reduction in South Asia while also enhancing livelihood prospects for informal waste workers—the most vulnerable of whom tend to be women. The report also demonstrates how reducing pollution and enhancing livelihood prospects are commercially sound strategies for companies and investors. Through examining the role of women in South Asia’s plastic waste management systems and the challenges they face the report provides recommendations for collaborative action to improve and safeguard women’s livelihoods in this sector More specifically, it examines the role of women in South Asia’s plastic waste management systems and the challenges they face and provides recommendations for collaborative action to improve and safeguard women’s livelihoods in this sector. Plastic pollution requires ‘upstream’ (waste prevention, such as reuse and repair) and ‘downstream’ (waste management, including recycling) solutions (Pew and SYSTEMIQ 2020). Upstream and downstream solutions fall under the broad definition of ‘materials management’. The report focuses primarily on the ‘downstream’ aspect and key vulnerable actors, who face an imminent threat of displacement, but highlights the need to better understand and engage with vulnerable actors within upstream solutions as well.
  • Publication
    Building Code Checklist for Green Buildings
    (Washington, DC, 2023-09-27) World Bank
    Globally, buildings account for 37 percent of energy and process-related carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. With increasing urbanization and population growth, demand for energy will continue to increase faster than the supply of renewable energy. This means that increasing the efficiency of current energy use is critical to climate change mitigation efforts while also meeting the development requirement of growing economies. Regulations that can increase the energy efficiency of buildings and reduce the carbon footprint of buildings are thus vital to reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and to achieving the Paris Agreement’s goal of keeping the increase in average global temperature below 2°C. This checklist aims to facilitate a robust approach to reviewing green building provisions in building regulations by providing a discussion of fundamental green building components of building regulations, and a systematic approach to review green building provisions in regulations.
  • Publication
    Mobilizing Private Finance for Nature: A World Bank Group Paper on Private Finance for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services
    (World Bank, Washington, DC, 2023-09-25) World Bank Group
    Biodiversity and ecosystem services, or nature for short, underpin many aspects of economic activity and are deteriorating at an unprecedented level, with potentially far-reaching implications for economies worldwide. Sustained ecosystem damage can trigger regime shifts and generate systemic impacts on human well-being and economies. For example, the degradation of natural ecosystems has been associated with an increase in the probability of emerging infectious diseases. The COVID-19 pandemic is likely an example of how the disturbance of ecosystems can have systemic consequences. As biodiversity is often seen as a public and therefore open access good, its conservation, restoration, and sustainable use rely heavily on scarce public sector finance. Simultaneously, governments are spending vast amounts to promote economic activities that are potentially harmful to biodiversity. This paper argues that governments and regulators, supported by financial institutions and multilateral development banks (MDBs), hold the key to mobilizing private finance at the scale needed to transform the way we build, produce, and consume to protect nature while fostering sustainable poverty reduction. The analysis looks at two key approaches to mobilizing private finance for biodiversity. First, it assesses opportunities for financing green, that is, the financing of projects that contribute, or intend to contribute, to the conservation, restoration, and sustainable use of biodiversity and its services to people. Second, it looks at greening finance, that is, directing financial flows away from projects with negative impact on biodiversity and ecosystems to projects that mitigate negative impact, or pursue positive environmental impact as a co-benefit. Despite growing innovation in both categories, significant challenges to scaling up private finance remain. These include policies that exacerbate the underpricing of biodiversity; lack of data, measurement, and reporting standards; and issues with biodiversity investment opportunities, which tend to be small scale and noncommercial, making private sector financing a challenge. The paper provides a set of recommendations for governments, regulators, companies, financial institutions, and MDBs. These are synthesized into a set of big five approaches to mobilize private finance for biodiversity: environmental fiscal reforms to realign incentives with sustainable practices; national biodiversity data provision and planning; the establishment of a Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD) to support biodiversity reporting; the establishment of a Nature Action 100 to drive change in the companies whose activities most threaten biodiversity; and the provision of catalytic, concessional capital for biodiversity funds and projects.