Publication:
Environmental Sustainability : An Evaluation of World Bank Group Support

Loading...
Thumbnail Image
Files in English
English PDF (3.3 MB)
917 downloads
English Text (1012.89 KB)
414 downloads
Published
2008
ISSN
Date
2012-05-29
Editor(s)
Abstract
The purpose of this evaluation is threefold. First, it seeks to assess how, and how well, the World Bank Group has supported its public and private sector clients in their efforts to achieve greater environmental sustainability over the past 15 years. Second, it attempts to identify the principal external and internal constraints on Bank Group effectiveness. And third, it seeks to suggest how some of these constraints, particularly the internal ones, can be reduced.
Link to Data Set
Citation
Independent Evaluation Group. 2008. Environmental Sustainability : An Evaluation of World Bank Group Support. © World Bank. http://hdl.handle.net/10986/6607 License: CC BY 3.0 IGO.
Associated URLs
Associated content
Report Series
Other publications in this report series
Journal
Journal Volume
Journal Issue

Related items

Showing items related by metadata.

  • Publication
    IFC's Sustainability Framework : From Policy Update to Implementation
    (Washington, DC, 2013) International Finance Corporation
    International Finance Corporation (IFC s) sustainability framework, which articulates our commitment to sustainable development and transparency. The performance standards are a vital part of the framework and address a range of environmental and social risks and opportunities faced by the private sector. This project highlights key environmental and social issues of current and emerging importance, including climate change, business and human rights, supply chain management, and biodiversity and ecosystem services. It discusses implementation challenges in the financial as well as the non-financial sectors, and summarizes some of the lessons learned through IFC s recent review and update of its sustainability framework. This project summarizes some of the key emerging issues in sustainability, and highlights valuable lessons learned from experience in applying sustainability principles. The subsequent sections attempt to capture the results of the review and update process, from the challenges of addressing emerging issues in the performance standards to the practical application of these principles across sectors in diverse circumstances. It focuses on key themes arising from the recently completed consultation process, and then highlights challenges moving forward in implementing sustainability standards.
  • Publication
    Results and Performance of the World Bank Group 2012 : Volume I
    (Washington, DC: World Bank, 2013-03-20) Independent Evaluation Group
    After a sustained period of considerable achievement in poverty reduction, developing countries are now navigating an increasingly uncertain time. Developing countries overall are estimated to have achieved, ahead of schedule, the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) of cutting the 1990 rate of extreme poverty in half. The global development context has direct implications for the World Bank Group's clients, and ultimately for the World Bank Group itself. The Bank Group delivered a large-scale response to the global financial crisis of 2008-09. The portfolio of the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA) became highly concentrated in the financial sector in the Europe and Central Asia region during the crisis, but the agency has made progress in diversifying its portfolio since FY11. The country program, as defined in a country assistance (or partnership) strategy, is an important intersection point for the activities of the three Bank Group institutions. Since the 2008-09 crises, Bank Group support for reforms to expand economic opportunities has been particularly relevant. The increasing concentration of International Finance Corporation (IFC) and MIGA portfolios in the financial sector gives rise to both opportunities and challenges. Crises, ratings for development policy operations remained high.
  • Publication
    IFC Annual Report 2010 : Where Innovation Meets Impact, Volume 1. Main Report
    (Washington, DC: World Bank, 2010) International Finance Corporation
    More than 200 million people in the developing world were out of work this year. Over 1 billion are hungry, while millions more are confronting the threat that climate change poses. The United Nations estimates that 884 million people don't have safe drinking water and more than 2.6 billion people lack basic sanitation. The population of the developing world will expand by a third over the next four decades, growth that will strain already weak infrastructure. In this environment, International Finance Corporation (IFC) is innovating to create opportunity where it's needed most. IFC committed a record $18 billion in fiscal year 2010, $12.7 billion of which was for own account. We invested in 528 projects, an 18 percent increase from FY09. Advisory Services portfolio comprised 736 active projects valued at more than $850 million, with annual expenditures totaling $268 million. Countries served by the International Development Association, or IDA, accounted for nearly half our investments 255 projects totaling $4.9 billion and more than 60 percent of Advisory Services expenditures. Sub-Saharan Africa accounted for 19 percent of our investment commitments and 25 percent of Advisory Services expenditures. The invested a record $1.64 billion in clean energy, leveraging $6.8 billion, while climate change related projects grew to 15 percent of the value of our Advisory Services portfolio. The investments in microfinance rose 10 percent to $400 million, expanding microfinance portfolio to $1.2 billion.
  • Publication
    Evaluative Directions for the World Bank Group's Safeguards and Sustainability Policies
    (Washington, DC: World Bank, 2011) Dani, Anis; Freeman, Ade; Thomas, Vinod
    The financial and food crises are reminders of the growing challenges countries face in sustaining economic growth and lifting the living standards of the poor. Equally, the emerging impacts of global warming on natural disasters and on agriculture are warning signs of the urgency to care for the environment and society. Recent global experience in the financial and environmental arenas demonstrates clearly the need to put in place and enforce regulatory frameworks that balance costs and benefits, both private and social. In this context, the crucial questions in the recent evaluation by the Independent Evaluation Group (IEG) of the World Bank Group's safeguards and sustainability policy framework concern the effectiveness of the instrument in mitigating adverse environmental and social impacts of development programs, and suggesting ways to improve the results. IEG's evaluation covered projects approved from FY1999 to FY2008. During this period, social and environmental effects were significant in half of World Bank projects 1,402 with commitments of $109 billion; 88 percent of projects financed by the International Finance Corporation (IFC) 1,662 with commitments of $35 billion; and 217 guarantees by the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA). The main thrust of the evaluation findings is that the World Bank Group's safeguards and sustainability policies have helped avoid or mitigate large-scale social and environmental risks in the projects it financed, but many projects with substantial environmental and social impacts remain of concern primarily because of inadequate supervision and follow-up.
  • Publication
    Results and Performance of the World Bank Group 2012 : Volume II. Appendixes
    (Washington, DC: World Bank, 2013-03-20) Independent Evaluation Group
    Management welcomes the Independent Evaluation Group (IEG) report results and performance 2012 of the World Bank group (RAP) and its overall positive assessment of the World Bank group development effectiveness. Management appreciates that the report provides a balanced picture of the World Bank group activities and recognizes that all three institutions have taken important steps to strengthen results, monitoring, and reporting. The report is especially useful to management to prioritize the challenges in the context of the ongoing efforts to strengthen focus on results. Management is concerned that the share of investment lending projects rated moderately satisfactory or better appears to be declining, after a long period of improvements observed since the mid-1990s.This reports includes five chapters: (i) the global development context ;(ii) world bank group operations: findings from evaluation work; (iii) enhancing the bank group's effectiveness;(iv) strengthening institutional results orientation;(v) conclusion: areas for attention

Users also downloaded

Showing related downloaded files

  • Publication
    Classroom Assessment to Support Foundational Literacy
    (Washington, DC: World Bank, 2025-03-21) Luna-Bazaldua, Diego; Levin, Victoria; Liberman, Julia; Gala, Priyal Mukesh
    This document focuses primarily on how classroom assessment activities can measure students’ literacy skills as they progress along a learning trajectory towards reading fluently and with comprehension by the end of primary school grades. The document addresses considerations regarding the design and implementation of early grade reading classroom assessment, provides examples of assessment activities from a variety of countries and contexts, and discusses the importance of incorporating classroom assessment practices into teacher training and professional development opportunities for teachers. The structure of the document is as follows. The first section presents definitions and addresses basic questions on classroom assessment. Section 2 covers the intersection between assessment and early grade reading by discussing how learning assessment can measure early grade reading skills following the reading learning trajectory. Section 3 compares some of the most common early grade literacy assessment tools with respect to the early grade reading skills and developmental phases. Section 4 of the document addresses teacher training considerations in developing, scoring, and using early grade reading assessment. Additional issues in assessing reading skills in the classroom and using assessment results to improve teaching and learning are reviewed in section 5. Throughout the document, country cases are presented to demonstrate how assessment activities can be implemented in the classroom in different contexts.
  • Publication
    World Development Report 2006
    (Washington, DC, 2005) World Bank
    This year’s Word Development Report (WDR), the twenty-eighth, looks at the role of equity in the development process. It defines equity in terms of two basic principles. The first is equal opportunities: that a person’s chances in life should be determined by his or her talents and efforts, rather than by pre-determined circumstances such as race, gender, social or family background. The second principle is the avoidance of extreme deprivation in outcomes, particularly in health, education and consumption levels. This principle thus includes the objective of poverty reduction. The report’s main message is that, in the long run, the pursuit of equity and the pursuit of economic prosperity are complementary. In addition to detailed chapters exploring these and related issues, the Report contains selected data from the World Development Indicators 2005‹an appendix of economic and social data for over 200 countries. This Report offers practical insights for policymakers, executives, scholars, and all those with an interest in economic development.
  • Publication
    Morocco Economic Update, Winter 2025
    (Washington, DC: World Bank, 2025-04-03) World Bank
    Despite the drought causing a modest deceleration of overall GDP growth to 3.2 percent, the Moroccan economy has exhibited some encouraging trends in 2024. Non-agricultural growth has accelerated to an estimated 3.8 percent, driven by a revitalized industrial sector and a rebound in gross capital formation. Inflation has dropped below 1 percent, allowing Bank al-Maghrib to begin easing its monetary policy. While rural labor markets remain depressed, the economy has added close to 162,000 jobs in urban areas. Morocco’s external position remains strong overall, with a moderate current account deficit largely financed by growing foreign direct investment inflows, underpinned by solid investor confidence indicators. Despite significant spending pressures, the debt-to-GDP ratio is slowly declining.
  • Publication
    Lebanon Economic Monitor, Fall 2022
    (Washington, DC, 2022-11) World Bank
    The economy continues to contract, albeit at a somewhat slower pace. Public finances improved in 2021, but only because spending collapsed faster than revenue generation. Testament to the continued atrophy of Lebanon’s economy, the Lebanese Pound continues to depreciate sharply. The sharp deterioration in the currency continues to drive surging inflation, in triple digits since July 2020, impacting the poor and vulnerable the most. An unprecedented institutional vacuum will likely further delay any agreement on crisis resolution and much needed reforms; this includes prior actions as part of the April 2022 International Monetary Fund (IMF) staff-level agreement (SLA). Divergent views among key stakeholders on how to distribute the financial losses remains the main bottleneck for reaching an agreement on a comprehensive reform agenda. Lebanon needs to urgently adopt a domestic, equitable, and comprehensive solution that is predicated on: (i) addressing upfront the balance sheet impairments, (ii) restoring liquidity, and (iii) adhering to sound global practices of bail-in solutions based on a hierarchy of creditors (starting with banks’ shareholders) that protects small depositors.
  • Publication
    Argentina Country Climate and Development Report
    (World Bank, Washington, DC, 2022-11) World Bank Group
    The Argentina Country Climate and Development Report (CCDR) explores opportunities and identifies trade-offs for aligning Argentina’s growth and poverty reduction policies with its commitments on, and its ability to withstand, climate change. It assesses how the country can: reduce its vulnerability to climate shocks through targeted public and private investments and adequation of social protection. The report also shows how Argentina can seize the benefits of a global decarbonization path to sustain a more robust economic growth through further development of Argentina’s potential for renewable energy, energy efficiency actions, the lithium value chain, as well as climate-smart agriculture (and land use) options. Given Argentina’s context, this CCDR focuses on win-win policies and investments, which have large co-benefits or can contribute to raising the country’s growth while helping to adapt the economy, also considering how human capital actions can accompany a just transition.