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.
Sub-Saharan Africa
IFI governance
Analysis
G20 press conference and media statement analysis Spring Meetings 2025: lack of Chair's statement yet more evidence of challenges to global consensus
The South African G20 Presidency failed to issue a communiqué and opted not to issue a Chair’s statement at the IMF and World Bank Spring Meetings as the US administration’s explicit hostility to multilateralism significantly decreases the potential for consensus across all multilateral fora.
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
Hidden debt: Tackling grand corruption in debt management to safeguard financing for development
Notes from the Civil Society Policy Forum on 23 April 2025 titled 'Hidden debt: tackling grand corruption in debt management to safeguard financing for development'.
Social services
Commentary
New report documents abuses at IFC-funded hospitals, further exposing consequences of the “billions to trillions” approach
Bloomberg investigation adds further evidence of negative consequences for people and governments of IFC’s for-profit healthcare model.
Finance
News
Private lenders’ resistance to Ethiopia's debt relief highlights urgent need for debt architecture reform
Ethiopia becomes the latest victim of the dysfunctional Common Framework, as private lenders continue to hold out on its debt restructuring with significant human rights, social and economic consequences.
Accountability
News
Civil society and communities achieve victory as World Bank cancels tourism project in Tanzania
World Bank confirms cancellation of controversial tourism project in Tanzania, after over 2 years of civil society campaigning.
Environment
News
Trump election may add pressure to reverse World Bank’s prohibition on support for nuclear power
Donald Trump’s election may result in a revision of World Bank’s long-standing prohibition of support to nuclear power.
Rights
News
UN Human Rights Council debt roundtable concludes debt crisis is a human rights crisis
UN Human Rights Council’s Seventh Intersessional Meeting calls for states to use FfD4 to agree reforms that enable states to deliver on their human rights obligations.
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.
Infrastructure
News
World Bank’s Mission 300: a path to power, for whom?
Bank's focus on attracting private investment through energy privatisation raises concerns, as it puts private profits over sustainable energy systems, burdening governments with debt and making electricity less affordable for citizens.
IFI governance
Analysis
G20 communiqué analysis Annual Meetings 2024: progress on tax and inequality obscures Group's wider failures
At the 25th anniversary of the Group’s Finance Track, the G20 communiqué’s robust language on the taxation of billionaires, including encouraging “constructive discussions” about the UN Tax Conference was contrasted by much more cautious language on MDB reform, climate finance, debt and Special Drawing Rights.
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