World Bank Group

Founded:

1944

Mission:

"To end extreme poverty and boost shared prosperity on a livable planet"

Headquarters:

Washington DC, USA

Top five shareholders:

USA, Japan, China, Germany and the United Kingdom

This page is part of the E3G Public Bank Climate Tracker Matrix, our tool to help you assess the Paris alignment of public banks, MDBs and DFIs.

Metric	Summary
Promotion of green finance	Paris aligned: The World Bank Group (WBG) provides extensive support to countries in developing green capital markets and financial systems, through capacity-building toolkits for green taxonomies and ESG investments, and networks such as the Sustainable Banking Network. It has promoted innovative financial mechanisms including the Global Solutions Accelerator Platform (GSAP) and the first-ever issuance of emissions reduction-linked bonds. The WB’s Sustainable Development Bonds framework is the largest globally for green bond issuance, having raised USD 43 billion in FY23 alone. The WBG has also actively provided technical assistance for sovereign green bond issuances.
Fossil to non-fossil energy finance ratio and scaling up climate finance	Some progress: Between 2019 and 2022, for every USD 1 the WBG provided to fossil fuels, USD 3.30 went to clean energy, USD 1.77 went to transmission and distribution (which typically cannot be attributed to any one energy type), and USD 1.30 went to “other” energy (e.g. mixed energy, nuclear, and biomass projects). Of the institutions constituting the WBG, IBRD has a higher ratio of clean energy spending relative to fossil fuels than any MDB covered by E3G’s Public Bank Climate Tracker Matrix. IFC and IDA have ratios within the average range of other MDBs assessed by the E3G Matrix, while MIGA continues to provide close to equal support for fossil fuels and clean energy. The WBG is on track to achieve its target of 45% of total financing to climate by 2025, having achieved 41% in FY23.
Nature based solutions	Some progress: The WBG lacks detailed standalone documents laying out its strategic approach to nature investments across its operations. Nonetheless, the WBG established a number of crosscutting programmes – such as the Global Program on Nature-Based Solutions and Global Challenge Programme on Forests for Development, Climate and Biodiversity – to add strategic direction to scale up its work on nature based solutions. Further, it supports programmes such as the Global Program on Sustainability (GPS), PROBLUE and PROGREEN, which host projects on biodiversity, marine conservation and forestry. Biodiversity is well integrated in both IFC’s and the WB’s safeguards, where a baseline has been established to assess the impact of projects. The Bank Group’s focus in terms of agriculture goes to supporting climate-smart agriculture projects, with over USD 3 billion per year invested. Despite the Bank Group’s efforts to reduce deforestation, encompassed under the PROGREEN initiative, the Bank Group has yet to establish a target or a zero net deforestation commitment..
Climate risk, resilience, and adaptation	Paris aligned: The WBG screens all projects for climate risks, with the WB, IFC and MIGA all using dedicated Paris alignment assessment procedures which cover both physical climate risks and transition risks. Support for enhancing client climate resilience has been extensive, including through initiatives such as the Climate Change Knowledge Portal. The WBG has consistently met its USD 10 billion a year financing target for adaptation, but falls short of parity, having dedicated 32% of total climate finance to adaptation in 2023.
Overarching climate strategy	Some progress: At the heart of the WBG’s Evolution Roadmap, the Bank Group has adjusted its mission and vision statement to reduce poverty and inequality “on a livable planet”. This update to the Bank Group’s mission and vision reflects the progress in the Bank Group’s ongoing evolution process. At a more granular level, the Climate Change Action Plan (CCAP) 2021–2025 and the WBG’s Approach to Paris Alignment represent an ambitious strategy for Paris alignment across the WBG’s operations. This is complemented by a comprehensive WBG Paris alignment methodology to ensure alignment across Bank Group-funded operations, featuring specific sector notes to guide implementation. However, gaps remain in how the WBG plans to follow up on its commitments – in terms of both Paris alignment and broader evolution. Furthermore, while the “do no harm” principle is present within the CCAP 2021–2025, the Bank Group could be expected to go beyond this, such as by considering a commitment to “do good beyond no harm”, to truly step into the role of the leading global MDB.
Integration of climate mitigation and resilience in key sectoral strategies	Some progress: The WBG lacks standalone sectoral strategy documents, instead integrating climate considerations into its sectoral approaches through dedicated webpages. While the WBG has made progress with its Paris alignment methodology and sectoral targets, its references to the Paris Agreement and prioritisation of climate measures remain inconsistent across sectors and policies.
Institutional leadership	Some progress: The WBG has positioned itself as an influential convener on climate issues, including through its role supporting initiatives like the Coalition of Finance Ministers for Climate Action. It has recently advanced its leadership by reframing its mission to include reference to securing a “livable planet” as part of its Evolution Roadmap. It has enhanced its climate knowledge and analytical expertise through Country Climate and Development Reports (CCDRs) and demonstrated leadership among MDBs by committing to collaborate closely with them. However, to be considered fully Paris aligned, the WBG must follow through with more transformational commitments made in its evolution process and enhance its credibility by addressing issues such as fossil fuel financing
Energy access and fuel poverty	Paris aligned: Energy access is identified as a priority area for the WBG within the Evolution Roadmap. This is further reflected by the highly ambitious 2030 universal energy access target, leadership of SE4ALL and a relatively (compared to other MDBs) high percentage of energy finance going towards energy access (23.8% over 2018–2021). The WBG allows the minimum definition of access to vary by context across its operations but has a minimum requirement for it to mean anything above tier 0. Beyond universal access by 2030, the Bank Group aims to provide new or improved access to electricity to 50–60 million people and access to clean cooking to 100 million people over FY22–25. While some aggregated progress monitoring and reporting takes place, the WBG could enhance granularity to become aligned with best practice across the board in its approach to energy access.
Energy efficiency strategy, standards and investment	Some progress: The WBG has made some progress in recognising the importance of energy efficiency as a means to reduce environmental impact, such as through its commitment to scale up related financing and the adoption of the “Avoid–Shift–Improve” framework in the transport sector. However, this has so far failed to translate to the adoption of an “energy efficiency first” principle across its operations or robust efficiency standards in the transport and/or building sectors (including for its lending through financial intermediaries).
Fossil fuel exclusion policies	Some progress: The WBG has committed to stop financing coal mining and coal power generation projects as part of its application of the Joint MDB Methodological Principles for Assessment of Paris Agreement Alignment and IFC and MIGA’s Green Equity Approach. This commitment would be strengthened through more explicit affirmation in the WBG’s own strategy documents. Furthermore, there remains scope for captive coal facilities to be financed, notably by IFC through intermediary lenders. In terms of oil and gas, upstream projects have not been supported since 2019. These commitments could also be strengthened by being made more explicit in WBG strategy documents. Mid- and downstream oil and gas investments are not excluded, although they are subject to alignment with national development pathways. There is no evidence of dedicated supply-side energy efficiency exclusions or safeguards to guard against fossil fuel lock-in, nor any explicit emissions performance standards relating to fossil fuels.
Greenhouse gas accounting and reduction	Some progress: The WBG mandates project level GHG accounting in all investment financing operations, with the exception of projects with “diverse and small sources of emissions” or where emissions are “not likely to be significant” (each without a quantitative threshold). Methodologies used can vary according to national contexts, potentially preventing comparability in implementation. Moreover, while the WB’s GHG calculations undergo third-party validation, this practice does not extend to other arms of the WBG. Improvements as part of the New Corporate Scorecard FY24–FY30 have improved the granularity of portfolio level net GHG emissions reporting. However, portfolio level GHG indicators still lack clarity on the eligibility criteria for projects and fall short of the CCAP 2021–2025’s commitment for comprehensive reporting in both aggregate gross and net GHG emissions reporting.
Shadow carbon pricing	Paris aligned: The WBG applies a carbon price across its operations, although criteria vary across the Bank Group’s institutions. All projects at IBRD & IDA are assessed where technically and financially feasible, while at IFC & MIGA, assessments are limited to certain sectors and apply only to projects exceeding a threshold of 25 ktCO2e/year. Carbon prices across the WBG are aligned with the recommended price range set out by the High-Level Commission on Carbon Prices (HLCCP). Scope 3 emissions are generally not covered.
Country level work	Some progress – The WBG has developed a comprehensive country engagement process, with enhanced integration of climate change mitigation and resilience considerations in its assessment of country development priorities facilitated by the 2021 launch of Country Climate and Development Reports (CCDRs). These include proactive efforts to integrate NDCs and LTSs into country work, while the newly established Global LTS Program supports the development of decarbonisation pathways to complement existing national plans. However, it is unclear how the WBG will address the need to go beyond or increase ambition of NDCs where necessary.
Technical assistance for implementing Paris goals	Some progress: The WBG has developed a broad offer of climate-related, policy level technical assistance often delivered through dedicated donor-supported trust funds such as its NDC and LTS support programme, as well as through its sectoral and project level engagement. The NDC and LTS support programme includes support for “enhancement” of existing NDCs, although it is unclear to what extent this is linked to increased NDC ambition. The WBG has also developed a comprehensive technical assistance offer (beyond national climate policy) across relevant areas, such as green finance and carbon pricing, among others (these are again in many cases supported by dedicated donor-supported trust funds). However, while the WBG has set up targeted initiatives to drive fossil fuel subsidy reform, it simultaneously continues to provide technical assistance for fossil fuel expansion. To be considered fully Paris Aligned, the WBG should set out a clear commitment to use its technical assistance to support countries not only in implementing existing NDCs but in enhancing NDC ambition, as well as revising its approach to providing technical assistance for fossil fuel expansion in order to ensure its policies are consistent with the goals of the Paris Agreement.
Transparency of climate finance data	Some progress: The WBG provides data to reporting initiatives and databases, such as the OECD-DAC climate-related development finance database, and the MDB joint report on climate finance. However, the data provided are mostly in aggregate form, and not in Excel-readable format, making analysis difficult. Moreover, the Bank Group could improve its TCFD reporting, in particular on its risk management disclosures, and on data from aggregated and portfolio-level risk analysis.