US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent indicates US will stay in the Bank and Fund, claiming “America First does not mean America alone,” as tariffs and rising debt vulnerabilities prompt gloomy forecast.
Climate change
IFI governance
Analysis
V20 communiqué analysis Spring Meetings 2025: amid attacks on climate action, climate vulnerable countries once again highlight urgent need to step back from the brink
Faced with deafening silence from Bank and Fund leadership on climate issues at the Spring Meetings, climate vulnerable countries demand urgent changes to global financial architecture.
IFI governance
Background
Catalyzing climate finance in fragile contexts - What’s being done and what still needs doing?
Notes from the 23 April Civil Society Policy Forum session titled “Catalyzing climate finance in fragile contexts - What’s being done and what still needs doing?”
Environment
Analysis
COP29 sees MDBs climate finance take centre stage, as civil society brands new climate finance goal a ‘betrayal’
Rich countries agree to provide a paltry $300 billion in public finance by 2035 including funds channelled through MDBs, as Small Island States and Least Developed Countries stage walkout.
Accountability
News
IFC ends investment in waste-to-energy incineration projects in Gujarat, India, following civil society campaign
While IFC’s withdrawal is welcome, civil society urges the Bank to stop funding WTE projects and move towards zero-waste solutions instead.
Accountability
News
CAO report adds to concerns about IFC's compliance with its own GHG emissions obligations
CAO report substantiates civil society findings about IFC’s failure to comply with its own requirements for GHG emissions measurement, alternatives analysis, mitigation and disclosure.
Environment
News
MIGA’s new guarantee for voluntary carbon markets risks shielding big polluters
CSOs warn MIGA's proposal at COP29 to de-risk carbon markets for private investors could shield polluters from accountability, leaving local communities to bear the costs.
IFI governance
Analysis
Annual Meetings 2024 Wrap-up - Don’t look back: BWIs plough down path of reforms lacking evidence and willingness to engage with broader UN-led reform processes
The 2024 World Bank and IMF Annual Meetings, taking place in the context of the institutions’ 80th anniversary, offered little substantive reform despite multiple ongoing organisational processes and reviews.
Environment
News
BWP’s new briefing finds year one of World Bank’s Paris Agreement alignment in the energy sector deepened 'green conditionalities'
New BWP briefing on the World Bank’s Paris Agreement alignment in the energy sector finds that, in its first year, the focus was on deepening 'green conditionality' and structuring a private sector-led energy transition.
Environment
News
Jamaica’s World Bank-brokered catastrophe bond fails to pay despite devastation of Hurricane Beryl
Bond's 'parametric criteria' were not triggered by powerful storm, despite the entire island being declared a disaster zone.
Featured briefings
9 June 2025
New data reveal World Bank DPF ‘climate finance’ carries strong private sector bias, undermining a just transition
New BWP briefing finds the World Bank counted 70 per cent of energy-sector reforms in Development Policy Financing as having 'climate co-benefits' between 2018-2023 - but most of these promoted a private-led energy transition.
15 April 2025
The Bretton Woods Observer: Spring 2025
2 April 2025