Transcript Document
Environmental Sustainability: An Evaluation of World Bank Group Support July 2008
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Environment matters for development
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Environmental problems are enormous and increasing
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Climate change
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Air and water pollution Soil erosion and desertification Water scarcity Loss of biodiversity
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Developing countries are severely affected:
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Growth
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Poverty
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Both public and private action are needed
WBG timeline: Increased attention since 1990
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1970 1980 WB project focus: "do no harm" IFC: Deepening attention to project level impacts from 1991 World Development Report (for Rio summit) (1992) WB: Increasingly proactive role from 1992 * 4-fold agenda: Safeguards, Stewardship, Mainstreaming, Global sustainability 1990 2000 IFC: Equator Principles WB: 2003 World Development Report WBG: 2001 Environmental Strategy MIGA: Enhanced project level focus from 1998
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Key messages
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The World Bank Group has made progress since 1990 as an advocate for the environment
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But treatment of environmental issues in many WBG country programs remains weak due to major external and internal constraints
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The WBG needs to increase its engagement and effectiveness in environmental issues through
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Greater attention in Bank Group and country strategies
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More effective cross-sectoral approaches Better measurement of activities and results Closer collaboration within the WBG and with partners
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This evaluation looks broadly at WBG engagement FY90-07
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Broad coverage: World Bank, IFC, and MIGA
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Evaluation Objectives
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Assessing WBG effectiveness
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Identifying principal external and internal constraints Suggesting improvements going forward
► Perspectives: “Do no harm” and “ Do good” ►
Methodology
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Literature review
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Portfolio review (variation across WBG due to data availability) 9 country case studies
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The 9 case study countries come from all regions and a mix of MICs and LICs
► Together these countries account for 56% of population, 46% of GDP, and over 40% of Bank environmental lending in developing and transition countries.
East Asia Latin America Middle East/N. Afr Sub-Saharan Africa South Asia Europe/Central Asia China Brazil Egypt Ghana, Madagascar, Senegal, Uganda India Russia
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Findings
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World Bank
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Strategies
2001 WBG Strategy growing but still inadequate attention in country strategies even less in country-led PRSPs • • •
Lending and grants
exact amount unknown – at most 5-10% Bank total project performance better over time, but M&E still weak weaker performance in Africa • • •
Nonlending
as important as lending country environmental assessments: helpful where undertaken research influential: WDRs ’92, ’03; Greening Industry
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World Bank (cont)
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Mainstreaming
some improvement but still far to go (poverty, health-environment links, vulnerability) • •
Partnerships
needs strengthening within WBG and externally some good examples (GEF, Pov-Env. Ptnp. ) • •
Global public goods
less emphasis during evaluation period, though now growing some good examples (Montreal protocol, carbon finance)
IFC
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Sustainability in IFC corporate strategies since 2001. Until recently focus has been on “do no harm”. Move to more “do good”.
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Environmental and social effects of investment projects
67% success rate in meeting IFC requirements and performance standards weak performance in Africa and in certain sectors limited attention to broader context
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Environmental work quality
appraisal generally good, supervision of financial intermediaries weak
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“Doing good” initiatives
M&E system generated insufficient data or still too early to assess Environment & Social Sustainability advisory services - Equator Principles
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MIGA
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MIGA’s focus has been primarily on “do no harm” Sustainability concept just incorporated in core business
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Environmental and social effects
Category A projects: better performance and increased attention to social issues Category B projects: less attention, worse performance •
Environmental work quality
Strengthened environmental and social issues in underwriting New policy and performance standards (2007): Go beyond safeguards to promote sustainability in guaranteed projects
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Looking ahead
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Many constraints need to be confronted
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Clients (public and private)
Competing demands (e.g. growth, energy needs, governance, conflict) Insufficient client commitment Inadequate institutional capacity and resources • • • • ►
World Bank Group
Competing priorities Inadequate staff skills and knowledge networks Difficulties of coordination across sectors, across WBG, and externally Difficulties of taking long-term view and of assessing country-level impacts beyond individual projects
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The evaluation has four broad recommendations
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Elevate environmental sustainability as WBG priority -- not just more of the same, but a “transformational” change Move to more integrated, cross-sectoral and area based approaches and strengthen staffing Greatly improve ability to measure, monitor, and evaluate activities and their results Continue to strengthen partnerships
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What would success look like?
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A widely-shared understanding of the critical role of environmental sustainability to development
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Clear alignment behind key strategic objectives
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Strong and effective WBG capacity
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Effective internal and external collaboration
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An emphasis on continual learning (from both success and failure)…
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…and a more sustainable world for all
Thank you
Evaluation available at: www.worldbank.org/ieg/environmentalsustainability Evaluation authors: John Redwood (IEG-WB) Jouni Eerikainen (IEG-IFC) Ethel Tarazona (IEG-MIGA)