Publication: Supporting Environmental Sustainability: An Evaluation of World Bank Group Experience, 1990-2007
Loading...
Published
2008-08
ISSN
Date
2012-08-13
Author(s)
Editor(s)
Abstract
The Bank Group's lending and non-lending support for environmental sustainability has increased and improved over the past 15 years. But the institution needs to raise the priority it accords to this area of rising concern, strengthen internal cooperation, and work more effectively with its government and private partners to help countries to get better results in addressing environmental challenges. The Bank, International Finance Corporation (IFC), and Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA) should jointly develop and commit to a new environmental strategy and ensure that environmental priorities enter fully into their strategic directions as well as in regional and country assistance programs, focusing in particular on underperforming regions and sectors and countries with the most significant environmental problems. The Bank Group should step up its support for public-private partnerships and take greater advantage of the private sector's potential for technology development and transfer, transformation toward clean and low-carbon technologies, and sustainable supply chains, while continuing to help countries strengthen environmental governance.
Link to Data Set
Citation
“World Bank. 2008. Supporting Environmental Sustainability: An Evaluation of World Bank Group Experience, 1990-2007. IEG Fast Track Brief. © World Bank. http://hdl.handle.net/10986/10596 License: CC BY 3.0 IGO.”
Digital Object Identifier
Associated URLs
Associated content
Other publications in this report series
Journal
Journal Volume
Journal Issue
Collections
Related items
Showing items related by metadata.
Publication GEF and Small Island Developing States(Washington, DC, 2005)The report highlights the GEF's work with small island developing states (SIDS) on key natural resource issues -climate change, biodiversity, international waters, and land degradation. It also describes the GEF's strategic priorities for SIDS over the next five years, recognizing the interrelatedness of SIDS' global environmental problems and their links to economic and social development. The Global Environment Facility (GEF) hopes this report will contribute to discussions at the International Meeting for the 10-Year Review of the Barbados Program of Action. The GEF fully supports the Barbados Program of Action as a fundamental framework for the sustainable development of SIDS and looks forward to continuing to work with SIDS on its implementation in areas consistent with the GEF's mandate.Publication India : Environmental Sustainability in the 1990s, A Country Assistance Evaluation(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2002)India's environmental problems are deep-rooted and severe. Estimates of annual environmental damage range from 4.5 percent to 8 percent of gross domestic product (GDP), in line with annual economic growth. Since 1990 the World Bank has lent India 1.94 billion dollars for 19 projects to mitigate environmental damage and another 97 million dollars was granted under global environmental facility (GEF) and Montreal protocol trust funds for four projects to protect the global environment. The Bank has also supported a spectrum of economic and sector work (ESW) that address environmental issues based on country assistance strategies. The report identifies eight conclusions for the Bank s future environmental assistance to India: integrate safeguards earlier in the project cycle; provide alternatives to public sector management of water supply and sewerage systems; greatly expand support of sanitation programs; air pollution needs to be targeted as a priority measure; step up efforts to promote rational pricing of natural resources; monitoring and enforcement of environmental standards is lagging and undermines the whole regulatory effort; links between poverty reduction and ecological balance must be more fully documented; and better recognition of global environmental threats will also address local concerns.Publication Monitoring Environmental Sustainability(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2010-12-09)This report presents a concise review of the major environmental and natural resources issues at the global and national level over the coming two decades. The environmental issues reviewed include air pollution and deterioration of air quality, greenhouse gas emissions and climate change, water quality, scarcity and access, land and soil degradation, deforestation and forest degradation, natural disaster, loss of biodiversity and protected areas, and governance and institutions for environmental and natural resource management. Besides providing an environment outlook, the report tackles the issue of monitoring also from the supply side. It identifies the relevant data and indicator sets available at the global level and country level to capture the global and locally relevant environmental issues with the underlying objective of pinpointing at data gaps. It concludes with a set of recommendations for moving forward on the monitoring agenda. Overall, the threats from climate change caused by Green House Gas (GHG) emissions, biodiversity loss, water pollution and scarcity as well as pressure on land as well as worsening ocean's state and biodiversity have to be taken under close observation in the period over the next 20 years. The environment challenges that the world faces are not trivial and some of them require immediate action. Action, in turn, requires reliable and accurate information. The second part of the report looks at information from the supply side. It identifies the relevant data and indicator sets available at the global level and country level to capture the global and locally relevant environmental issues with the underlying objective of informing and advising decision making and to identify the data gaps.Publication Environmental Priorities and Poverty Reduction : A Country Environmental Analysis for Colombia(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2007)The analysis of the cost of environmental degradation conducted as part of the country environmental analysis (CEA) shows that the most costly problems associated with environmental degradation are urban and indoor air pollution; inadequate water supply, sanitation, and hygiene; natural disasters (such as flooding and landslides); and land degradation. The burden of these costs falls most heavily on vulnerable segments of the population. To address these problems, this report identifies a number of cost-effective policy interventions that could be adopted in the short and medium terms to support sustainable development goals. In recent decades, considerable progress has been made in addressing the water and the forestry environmental agendas. The impact of environmental degradation on the most vulnerable groups suggests the need to increase emphasis on environmental health issues. However, the environmental management agenda has yet to catch up with this shift in priorities from watershed and forestry to environmental health problems because mechanisms in the current institutional structure to signal these changes are not yet in place. Improved monitoring and dissemination of information on environmental outcomes, assignment of accountability for environmental actions and outcomes, and involvement of a broad range of stakeholders are three important mechanisms to allow these signals to be picked up.Publication Turkey Energy and Environment Review : Synthesis Report(Washington, DC, 2003-12)Gaps in knowledge about the interface between energy and the environment, were identified sometime in the late 1990s, and a number of studies were then conceived to address this knowledge gap, and advance the level of understanding, by collecting additional information, through specialized analyses. This Synthesis Report summarizes the results of ten studies, collectively referred to as the "Energy and Environment Review", covering energy demand forecasting; environmental issues associated with the coal/lignite, mining and power generation sub-sector; potential of co-generation in Turkey; assessment of transmission and distribution loss reduction; improved management of emissions from non-power sectors; improvement of petroleum fuels quality; and, technical support to implement various energy system analyses. This report comprises a discussion of the issues relating to the energy and environment; a description of the key findings and recommendations; and a summary an conclusions.
Users also downloaded
Showing related downloaded files
Publication The World Bank Group in Georgia, 2014-23(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2025-07-30)This Country Program Evaluation assesses the performance and effectiveness of the World Bank Group’s support to Georgia in achieving the country’s development objectives. In the decade leading up to the evaluation period, Georgia pursued economic reforms to attract critical investments for becoming a regional trade and transport hub. Ambitious economic reforms went hand in hand with efforts to improve human development and strengthening social protection systems. Growing geopolitical tensions and internal political polarization have challenged Georgia’s reform progress in recent years. The Bank Group’s strategy adapted well to Georgia’s development needs and was well coordinated with other development partners. It successfully employed a range of instruments to help increase competitiveness, growth, and job creation, and effectively contributed to improved infrastructure and increased trade by using programmatic and innovative approaches. The Bank Group’s regular investments in analytical work and the switch to results-based programmatic support helped improve the efficiency and effectiveness of education and health care systems. The IEG offers the following lessons based on the evidence and analysis in the Country Program Evaluation: (i) Prioritizing Bank Group support around the move towards deeper regional integration was an effective anchor for key economic reforms for economic convergence. (ii) Pursuing a selective and adaptive approach in a country with high implementation capacity and institutions, strong coordination among development partners, and access to a wide range of external resources can allow the Bank Group to exercise significant influence in areas of comparative advantage and global expertise. (iii) A stronger focus on outcome-based programmatic approaches helped to build local capacity and crowd-in partner financing.Publication FY 2025 China Country Opinion Survey Report(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2025-08-04)The Country Opinion Survey in China assists the World Bank Group (WBG) in better understanding how stakeholders in China perceive the WBG. It provides the WBG with systematic feedback from national and local governments, multilateral/bilateral agencies, media, academia, the private sector, and civil society in China on 1) their views regarding the general environment in China; 2) their overall attitudes toward the WBG in China; 3) overall impressions of the WBG’s effectiveness and results, knowledge work and activities, and communication and information sharing in China; and 4) their perceptions of the WBG’s future role in China.Publication Digital Africa(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2023-03-13)All African countries need better and more jobs for their growing populations. "Digital Africa: Technological Transformation for Jobs" shows that broader use of productivity-enhancing, digital technologies by enterprises and households is imperative to generate such jobs, including for lower-skilled people. At the same time, it can support not only countries’ short-term objective of postpandemic economic recovery but also their vision of economic transformation with more inclusive growth. These outcomes are not automatic, however. Mobile internet availability has increased throughout the continent in recent years, but Africa’s uptake gap is the highest in the world. Areas with at least 3G mobile internet service now cover 84 percent of Africa’s population, but only 22 percent uses such services. And the average African business lags in the use of smartphones and computers as well as more sophisticated digital technologies that catalyze further productivity gains. Two issues explain the usage gap: affordability of these new technologies and willingness to use them. For the 40 percent of Africans below the extreme poverty line, mobile data plans alone would cost one-third of their incomes—in addition to the price of access devices, apps, and electricity. Data plans for small- and medium-size businesses are also more expensive than in other regions. Moreover, shortcomings in the quality of internet services—and in the supply of attractive, skills-appropriate apps that promote entrepreneurship and raise earnings—dampen people’s willingness to use them. For those countries already using these technologies, the development payoffs are significant. New empirical studies for this report add to the rapidly growing evidence that mobile internet availability directly raises enterprise productivity, increases jobs, and reduces poverty throughout Africa. To realize these and other benefits more widely, Africa’s countries must implement complementary and mutually reinforcing policies to strengthen both consumers’ ability to pay and willingness to use digital technologies. These interventions must prioritize productive use to generate large numbers of inclusive jobs in a region poised to benefit from a massive, youthful workforce—one projected to become the world’s largest by the end of this century.Publication FY 2024 Seychelles Country Opinion Survey Report(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2025-01-27)The Country Opinion Survey in Seychelles assists the World Bank Group (WBG) in better understanding how stakeholders in Seychelles perceive the WBG. It provides the WBG with systematic feedback from national and local governments, multilateral and bilateral agencies, media, academia, the private sector, and civil society in Seychelles on: (1) their views regarding the general environment in Seychelles; (2) their overall attitudes toward the WBG in Seychelles; (3) overall impressions of the WBG’s effectiveness and results, knowledge work and activities, and communication and information sharing in Seychelles; and (4) their perceptions of the WBG’s future role in Seychelles.Publication The World Bank Group in Tanzania, Fiscal Years 2012–22(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2025-07-22)This evaluation assesses the relevance and effectiveness of the World Bank Group's support to Tanzania between Fiscal Years 2012 and 2022. Over the past decade, Tanzania has experienced resilient growth, with an average annual per capita GDP increase of 2.2%. However, poverty remains widespread and slow to decline, underscoring the need for more inclusive growth. The report examines the Bank Group's strategic and operational approaches during this period, which were aligned with Tanzania's development priorities and focused on industrialization, human development, and public sector reforms. The evaluation includes thematic chapters on the Bank Group's support for private sector-led growth and spatial transformation, as well as lessons to inform future support to the country.