A complaint filed by Kosovo's Independent Energy Union (SPEK) with the Compliance Advisor/Ombudsman, the accountability mechanism of the International Finance Corporation (IFC, the World Bank's private sector arm), about a 2009 advisory project by the IFC for the privatisation of Kosovo's electricity grid has been accepted for a full audit.
Infrastructure
Accountability
News
World Bank fails to take action on Eskom risks
The World Bank has declined to take immediate action over identified issues on water availability, air quality and community services related to Eskom for the Medupi coal-fired power plant in South Africa.
Infrastructure
News
IMF and World Bank disagree over Ugandan taxes?
World Bank advice on taxes has been contradicted by a senior IMF representative who says that Uganda's tax system is "not fair".
Accountability
News
World Bank rejected by Indian NGOs
An early June statement from 26 social movements and NGOs in India have called the World Bank's plans for civil society consultation on the Bank's country assistance strategy (CAS) for India a "farce".
Accountability
News
Access for the poor?
As the G20 and the World Bank continue their push for increased investment in large-scale public-private led infrastructure projects, further scrutiny of the Bank's track record puts its strategy in question.
Infrastructure
News
Calls for halt of World Bank's climate initiatives
NGOs have called on governments to pivot away from funding the Bank-housed Climate Investment Funds (CIFs). Concerns have also been raised about private sector delivery of climate finance and that the Bank's efforts to push carbon markets are undermining genuine reforms in the forest sector.
Social services
Analysis
Infrastructure as an asset class
A forthcoming report on private equity infrastructure funds by Nicholas Hildyard of NGO The Corner House, More than bricks and mortar, looks at the connections between infrastructure funding and international financial markets, and at the wider political project that infrastructure embodies. In this briefing, Hildyard argues that the transformation of infrastructure into an asset class has environmental and social implications far beyond what can be handled by stronger safeguards on investments.
Environment
Analysis
Climate Investment Funds Monitor 5
The Climate Investment Funds (CIFs) are financing instruments designed to pilot low-carbon and climate-resilient development through the multilateral development banks (MDBs). They are comprised of two trust funds - the Clean Technology Fund (CTF) and the Strategic Climate Fund (SCF).
Accountability
Background
EIR + 10
Minutes of afternoon sessions of extractives conference, Washington DC, 23 April 2012
Infrastructure
Background
Kosovo's options for a sustainable energy future
Minutes of presentation and discussion on Kosovo's options to develop a sustainable energy future, Washington DC, 20 April 2012.
