This year, 85 per cent of the world’s population lives under austerity measures, while multinational enterprises and the wealthy have benefited from privileged tax structures and regressivity, allowing inequality to widen.

This year, 85 per cent of the world’s population lives under austerity measures, while multinational enterprises and the wealthy have benefited from privileged tax structures and regressivity, allowing inequality to widen.
Bank’s lofty projections for oil-based growth contradict more sober estimates that account for uncertainty in sector.
Law firm contracted under World Bank technical assistance apparently backs out after CSOs expose links to ExxonMobil.
Notes from a Civil Society Policy Forum event on 16 October.
Bank approves $35 million development policy loan to help Guyana commence offshore drilling, amidst CSO legal challenge to offshore drilling permits
Challenges in measuring progress were noted for the Forest Investment Program (FIP), in particular greenhouse gas accounting. Investment plans for Mozambique and Ivory Coast have been approved. Questions were raised over the reasoning for a commercial teak plantation project in Ghana.
New edition of the Bretton Woods Project's biannual Climate Investment Funds (CIFs) Monitor, including an update on the Green Climate Fund, published to coincide with the World Bank-hosted CIFs trust fund committee meetings.
New edition of the Bretton Woods Project's biannual Climate Investment Fund (CIFs) Monitor, published to coincide with the World Bank-hosted CIFs trust fund committee meetings.
The rationale for adding new pilot countries to the Forest Investment Program (FIP) given funding constraints has been questioned, as well as the focus on providing loans rather than grants. The CIF strategic directions paper noted challenges for the FIP, and proposed a new private sector window. Questions were raised about the consultation of ethnic minorities in relation to a Laos project.
Six new countries were invited to join the Forest Investment Program (FIP), with a further nine invited to develop investment plans, despite insufficient funds. Potential support for oil palm plantations in Democratic Republic of Congo and industrial logging in Indonesia and Peru were questioned.
The World Bank is promoting a “billion dollar map” of minerals in Africa, and continues to invest in fossil fuel extraction. Controversy is tainting Bank-funded mines in Colombia and Haiti as locals resist the extractive projects.
Participants reviewing proposed low carbon development strategies and Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation policies of the World Bank at a workshop on Indigenous peoples' rights, extractive industries and national development policies in Guyana, expressed dissatisfaction with the consultation process indicating that previous concerns were yet to be addressed.