Working to Achieve Development Goals

Putting climate at the heart of development

Tackling climate change is fundamental to development and the fight against poverty. In fiscal 2023, our total climate finance amounted to a record high of $29.4 billion, or 40 percent of total IBRD and IDA finance. Looking ahead, we will go beyond focusing on how much money we are putting in to fight climate change. We also plan to tell the bigger story that captures the impacts of our investments. We know that our projects reduce emissions, deliver cleaner air, better water quality, and better health for people. But just how much of a difference is that climate finance making? How is it contributing to development paths that bring the world to net zero emissions and keep people safe from climate impacts?

To address climate and development together, we identify strategies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in countries while supporting sustainable development through a new core diagnostic, the Country Climate and Development Reports. Covering over 20 countries, the first set of these reports show that climate change poses a major threat to long-term development objectives, but countries can grow while reducing emissions if they embrace major change. The financing to drive the transition averages about 1.4 percent of GDP, a manageable amount with appropriate private sector involvement. But in lower-income countries, financing needs can exceed 5 percent, which will require more support, including more concessional resources, from high-income countries. In South Africa, the Country Climate and Development Report considered the energy transition. The Bank is providing $497 million to help decommission the Komati coal plant, the first of 12 in the country that will be retired by 2030. The project will help repurpose Komati and create new opportunities for affected workers and communities.

The Bank Group also committed to aligning our new financing operations with the Paris Agreement goals, an important step toward containing the warming of the earth to well below 2 degrees—and preferably 1.5 degrees—Celsius, while achieving sustainable development and ending poverty. From July 1, 2023, all new World Bank financing operations will comply with this commitment. As agreed in our Climate Change Action Plan for 2021–25, we will vet every Bank operation using detailed methodologies aligned with the joint Multilateral Development Bank Paris Alignment Approach.

We host the secretariat for the Coalition of Finance Ministers for Climate Action. Consisting of 86 finance ministries and 26 institutional partners, the coalition came together at the 2023 World Bank Group–IMF Spring Meetings to ensure that climate change and a socially just transition were at the top of the economic agenda, discuss their respective policy challenges, and exchange best policy practices. They also launched a new guide to help finance ministries mainstream climate action. Policy makers also discussed "transition finance," which looks at the decarbonization of the dirtiest sectors and activities; they also expanded programs to build capacity and implement new green policies and processes. Indonesia and the Netherlands will lead the coalition moving forward. 

Addressing the debt crisis in the developing world

The debt crisis in developing countries has worsened over the past year. The most recent data show that public debt in developing countries had doubled in the past decade. Interest rate hikes and slowing growth have made it harder for countries to make repayments on this larger debt stock. Around 60 percent of low-income countries are either in debt distress or at high risk of it.

The World Bank has stepped up its support to countries facing debt distress, helping countries improve debt management and transparency while strengthening their fiscal positions through better tax compliance, more efficient public spending, and better domestic resource mobilization. We also play a unique and critical role in the international financial system, providing implicit debt reduction through substantial non-repayable grants for countries with the highest debt vulnerabilities and concessional financing that delivers large, low-cost external flows to the countries that need it most.

We are helping the international community break the impasse among creditors that is slowing sovereign debt restructurings, which must be completed quickly to prevent reversals in development. Alongside the IMF and G20 Presidency of India, we established the Global Sovereign Debt Roundtable to identify and address recurring technical problems in debt restructuring. For the first time, the roundtable brought debtor countries to the table alongside a diverse group of creditors—including multilateral, official bilateral, and commercial creditors—to discuss ways to improve the sovereign debt architecture.

Produced in partnership with the IMF, our Debt Sustainability Analyses for low-income countries are vital global public goods. We also help developing countries better manage their debt through country-specific projects funded by the Debt Management Facility and Government Debt Risk Management trust funds—a critical step in promoting transparency and other sound practices that can help prevent future debt crises.

International Debt Report

The 2022 report highlights rising debt-related risks for all developing countries, underscoring the urgent need to improve debt transparency and provide more complete debt information so countries can manage debt risks and use resources efficiently for sustainable development. The total external debt of low- and middle-income countries has more than doubled since 2011, reaching $9 trillion at the end of 2021. About 60 percent of the world’s poorest countries are at high risk of debt distress or are already in distress. The share of external debt owed to private creditors and government creditors outside the Paris Club also rose sharply over the past decade, making it even more difficult to facilitate restructuring.

This year’s edition adds substantive analysis and expands both the breadth and specificity of the data. The International Debt Statistics database includes the actual debt service deferred in 2021 by each bilateral creditor and the projected monthly debt-service payments owed to all bilateral creditors for the calendar year 2022. Over the past five years, the database has identified and added $631 billion of previously unreported loan commitments; an additional $44 billion was identified in 2021.

Building more resilient health systems for universal health coverage and health security

We help developing countries build more resilient health systems; better prevent, prepare for, and respond to pandemics; and strengthen public health. Our nearly $34 billion global health portfolio includes over 200 projects that improve health outcomes and health security, especially for poor and vulnerable people, by strengthening primary care and public health. The World Bank is the largest funder of the global COVID-19 health response, with $14.2 billion committed to over 100 countries, including more than 30 countries impacted by fragility, conflict, and violence. The COVID-19 pandemic showed that countries need stronger, more resilient health systems that can better prevent, prepare for, and respond to future shocks while maintaining essential health services. Our Change Cannot Wait report presents how countries can improve health outcomes by anticipating and adapting to health dynamics such as aging, stunting, non-communicable diseases, inequalities, and climate-related illnesses. We work with countries to screen for climate-related health risks—including food insecurity and poor diets, which affect vulnerable people in particular—and identify effective ways to tackle them. We also help address the double burden of obesity and stunting, which is key to improving human capital.

We are addressing future pandemic risks through a comprehensive approach that includes knowledge, partnerships, and financing. In Preventing, Preparing for, and Responding to Disease Outbreaks and Pandemics, we outline an ambitious agenda for the Bank Group to enhance pandemic preparedness and response at the country, regional, and global levels as part of a broader approach to strengthen health systems. In West Africa and the Sahel, we are improving regional cooperation on public health, upgrading veterinary laboratories, and preventing antimicrobial resistance. In East Africa, we supported a laboratory network that has expanded regional capacity to detect outbreaks and mount rapid responses. IDA will also deepen support for low-income countries to better prepare for future crises, including pandemics. In September 2022, we helped establish the new Pandemic Fund, which is housed at the Bank and governed by a board comprising representatives from governments, foundations, and civil society organizations. The fund provides a dedicated stream of catalytic, long-term financing to strengthen pandemic preparedness and response in developing countries and provide technical support. The fund issued its first call for proposals in March 2023.

The Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Program provides additional resources to respond to COVID-19 and other health emergencies and help countries better prepare for future health emergencies. It offers rapid financing to countries with the greatest needs, some of which cannot access traditional Bank financing. Since its launch in April 2020 through June 2023, the program has allocated $126 million from trust funds to support country and regional efforts.

Due to global economic shocks, government spending capacity is expected to decline or stagnate in many low- and lower-middle-income countries. For many of them, rising interest payments on public debt further threaten their capacity to invest in health. An update to the From Double Shock to Double Recovery report projects that these trends will restrict countries’ ability to strengthen pandemic preparedness, limit progress toward universal health coverage, and lead to growing inequalities between countries. We help countries take concerted policy action by reprioritizing health, increasing the efficiency of public expenditure, and exploring opportunities for resource mobilization—such as health taxes on tobacco, alcohol, or sugar-sweetened beverages—to improve health outcomes and increase revenue.

Hosted at the Bank, the Global Financing Facility is a country-led partnership that advances the health and rights of women, children, and adolescents. It links grants to Bank lending and unlocks and aligns more resources to help investments go further for women, children, and adolescents in the hardest-to-reach communities. Between fiscal years 2015 and 2022, IDA lending for the health of women, children, and adolescents rose by 12 percent, resulting in $1.7 billion in additional financing for the Global Financing Facility’s partner countries specifically focused on women, children, and adolescents. Since 2015, the Global Financing Facility and the Bank have helped provide more than 96 million pregnant women with antenatal care visits; over 103 million women with safe delivery care; 111 million newborns with early breastfeeding; and more than 500 million people with access to modern contraceptives, helping avert more than 187 million unintended pregnancies. In Kenya, 46 percent more women delivered their babies in facilities with a skilled attendant between 2014 and 2021; Vietnam and Uganda trained more frontline health workers; and Guatemala expanded cash transfers for nutrition. It also helps countries reform financing to increase health budgets and better align partner resources. This includes in Côte d’Ivoire, where the government expanded insurance coverage to 89 percent of the population, especially in the poorest communities, contributing to 36 percent more pregnant women accessing antenatal care between 2020 and 2021.

Addressing the global learning crisis

Education is in crisis. Learning poverty—the share of children unable to read and understand a simple text by age 10—is estimated to have risen from 57 to 70 percent in developing countries as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, the worst shock to education and learning in recorded history. On average, for every 30 days of school closures, students lost about 32 days of learning. This generation of students risks losing $21 trillion in potential lifetime earnings, or the equivalent of 17 percent of today’s global GDP. Unrecovered learning losses will also lead to greater inequality because students from poorer and less educated households lost more ground during school closures. The problem is particularly dire for girls, who face additional barriers to a quality education, especially in countries affected by fragility, conflict, and violence.  

Domestic financing for education over the past two years has not kept pace with the need to recover and accelerate learning. Across low- and lower-middle-income countries, the average share of education in government budgets fell during the pandemic; in 2022, it remained below 2019 levels. The best chance for a better future is to invest in education—amid fiscal pressures, protecting spending that yields long-run gains, such as on education, will maximize impact.

Our RAPID Framework for Learning Recovery and Acceleration synthesizes effective policy actions: reaching every child and keeping them in school; assessing learning levels regularly; prioritizing teaching the fundamentals; increasing the efficiency of instruction (including through catch-up learning); and developing psychosocial health and well-being. Countries also need to develop foundational skills for post-secondary students. In many countries, students need both remedial education for these skills and education in the technical skills demanded by the labor market.

The World Bank is the largest source of external financing for education in developing countries. Our projects reach more than 432 million students and 18 million teachers—one-third of students and nearly a quarter of teachers in developing countries. We are also the largest implementing agency of the Global Partnership for Education’s active grants, managing about 59 percent of their $3.6 billion portfolio.

We are helping governments implement ambitious learning-recovery programs to get children back to school, recover lost learning, ensure student and teacher well-being, support marginalized children, and accelerate progress. In Edo State in Nigeria, we are helping the state government improve teaching and learning in basic education while also focusing on developing digital and entrepreneurial skills. In Romania, we support secondary school students transitioning to tertiary education—as well as tertiary education students during their first years of university—through a series of grants for educational institutions to develop social support programs for students. In Afghanistan, we provide emergency funding to increase girls’ and boys’ access to school and improve school conditions, including constructing water, sanitation, and hygiene facilities. We are also reaching out-of-school children through community-based education programs.

We work closely with UNICEF, UNESCO, the U.S. and U.K. governments, and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation on foundational learning. These efforts are largely at the primary school level, but also include a focus on early childhood development, so that children can go to school ready to learn. They also include the Accelerator Program, which fights learning poverty in countries, and the Coalition on Foundational Learning, a global network of actors committed to halving learning poverty by 2030, as captured in the Commitment to Action on Foundational Learning. The Tertiary Education and Skills global program, launched with support from the Mastercard Foundation, prepares youth and adults for the future of work and society by improving access to relevant, quality, and equitable reskilling and post-secondary education opportunities. We also collaborate with the Global Education Evidence Advisory Panel, an independent panel of global experts convened by the World Bank, UNICEF, and the U.S. and U.K. governments. The panel’s 2023 Smart Buys report draws on 400 high-quality impact evaluations and lays out evidence on interventions that improve student learning cost-effectively. It builds on the panel’s 2020 report by updating and expanding the evidence base and extending it to cover important new areas, including health and nutrition interventions.

Our engagement on education in situations of fragility, conflict, and violence stands at over $5 billion, which accounts for about a quarter of our education portfolio. In line with the Bank Group’s Fragility, Conflict, and Violence strategy, our approach recognizes that education is crucial in minimizing the impacts of fragility and displacement on children and youth and to prevent violent conflict over the long term.

Strengthening human capital

As countries deal with multiple global crises, investments are critical to address gaps in human capital—the knowledge, skills, and good health that people need to achieve their potential. The World Bank’s Human Capital Project supports these efforts with a combination of research, data, analytics, and country and global engagement. With a network of 89 member economies, it helps policy makers shape national plans and priorities and builds consensus to address global challenges through investments in human capital. Alongside events with country focal points from ministries of finance and Bank staff, our biannual ministerial conclaves in fiscal 2023 focused on addressing food security and on accelerating climate action. Human capital also became a special theme in the IDA20 policy package, ensuring a focus on addressing gaps and leveraging investments in people in the poorest countries.

Since the launch of the Human Capital Index in 2019, we have harnessed research and data to help monitor human capital outcomes and identify areas for improvement. Country briefs offer snapshots and measure progress in each life cycle for 172 countries. Over 46 ongoing Human Capital Reviews help governments identify constraints and improve financing and efficiency in public spending for better outcomes. We also implement regional human capital plans for Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean, the Middle East and North Africa, and South Asia. These tools highlight the investments and interventions needed, supporting evidence-based policy-making on human capital.

Our Collapse and Recovery report provided the first comprehensive review of global data of young people during the COVID-19 pandemic. It showed that the pandemic disrupted human capital accumulation at critical moments in the life cycle, derailing development for millions of children and young people in developing countries. We also issued policy briefs on strengthening food security and human capital, gender, and climate change, helping countries and partners integrate human capital policies as they address crises amid shrinking fiscal space.

Financed by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the Canadian government, the Human Capital Umbrella Program provides a flexible financing model that allows donors and partners to support broader, more systematic institutional and policy reforms. It has provided 18 countries in Africa and South Asia with analytics and technical assistance to address human capital challenges. The program has also informed more than 15 Bank operations totaling over $4 billion, reaching more than 35 million people.

Investing in digital development to address global challenges

Digital infrastructure and technologies help countries respond and build resilience to today’s complex development challenges—from climate change and pandemics to conflicts and food insecurity—by enhancing connectivity, inclusion, and access to services. But digitalization can also exacerbate economic and social divides and open countries to greater privacy and cybersecurity risks. The World Bank is working to maximize the benefits of digitalization while mitigating the risks. In more than 100 developing countries, we collaborate with governments to build strong foundations for digital economies to thrive. This includes broadband connectivity, digital data infrastructure, safeguards, information and communications technologies–enabled growth, digital skills and jobs, and the intersection of digitalization and climate mitigation.

In Uganda, we helped improve access to and affordability of the country’s communications infrastructure, increasing internet penetration by 25 percent while lowering the price of mobile broadband internet by 74 percent. We also helped enhance government services by supporting the digitalization of e-services and cybersecurity investments. In Maldives, we support digital platforms that enable climate-relevant data sharing and improve data-driven planning and policy-making that can help mitigate rising sea levels and coastal erosion. In Argentina, we are helping strengthen data infrastructure and close the digital divide; this will provide digital-skills training to over 300,000 people in areas without internet connections, with a special focus on women.

Our research shows the role of digital technologies and platforms in boosting jobs and enabling economic transformation. Our Digital Africa report demonstrated that internet availability helps create jobs and reduce poverty in African countries. Our Working Without Borders report found that online work, which is often informal, is growing faster in developing countries and opens opportunities for inclusion. Vulnerable groups will need access to digital devices and high‐speed, reliable, and affordable internet to engage in online work and reap the benefits of the digital economy.

Under the G20 Presidency of India, the Bank supported the development of a common framework for digital public infrastructure. We also partnered with the G7 Presidency of Japan on inclusive, secure, and resilient digital infrastructure. We work with several initiatives and trust funds that support digital transformation, such as the Digital Development Partnership, the Cybersecurity Multidonor Trust Fund, the Identification for Development and Government-to-Person Payments initiatives, and the Korea Digital Development Program.

Building more adaptive social protection systems

Effective social protection systems protect poor and vulnerable people, including the elderly and persons with disabilities, and help people escape from poverty and increase their resilience. Yet major gaps in coverage remain, with multiple crises arising from climate shocks, war, and inflation increasing the need for support. Demographic transitions—including societal aging, the need for new jobs as part of a green transition, and disruptions from rapid technological change—mean countries need better policies, programs, and approaches to protect and empower their people. Our new strategy, The Compass, recognizes that progress toward universal social protection is critical to protect people from shocks, build human capital, and lay the foundation for inclusive, equitable, and resilient societies. It calls for adaptive social protection programs to increase resilience against climate, economic and health shocks, food insecurity, and inflation as well as to ensure the transition to a green economy through income support, upskilling, and reskilling. We help countries implement policies for social assistance, labor markets, social insurance, and pensions and scale up delivery systems to reach more people. In fiscal 2023, we committed $7.3 billion for social protection, including $4.1 billion from IDA.

We spearhead efforts to monitor social protection responses to shocks, including the war on Ukraine and the price shocks in food, fuel, and fertilizer that were exacerbated by the war. As of April 2023, the inflation tracker recorded over 1,300 social protection measures across 178 economies, representing a 30 percent increase since December 2022. We also made significant strides in data collection in fiscal 2023, including our Atlas of Social Protection Indicators of Resilience and Equity on social insurance, social assistance, and labor programs.

In fiscal 2023, we helped scale up economic inclusion programs and enhance coordination between social assistance and labor policies. We supported labor markets to improve resilience against climate change, promoting policies for green jobs, upskilling, and matching, especially for youth. We provided opportunities for poor and vulnerable people, protecting and supporting informal workers, persons with disabilities, migrants, and refugees, and empowering women and girls. We also highlighted the impacts of societal aging and demographic change on pensions and social insurance. In Zambia, the Girls’ Education and Women’s Empowerment and Livelihood program has reduced school dropout rates among adolescent girls and led to a 63 percent increase in business profits through women’s grant and savings groups. In Malawi, the flagship cash transfer program was expanded to become “shock-responsive,” providing relief to over 100,000 households in the event of a drought. And in Cameroon, we helped the government build basic safety net systems that reach almost a third of the poor—2.3 million people—including refugees from conflict-affected countries. We also provided technical support to help countries extend the coverage of their pension systems to support their aging populations, including in Albania and Mexico.

Our work on policies related to migrant workers and refugees includes the Knowledge Partnership on Migration and Development (KNOMAD), which monitors migration and remittance flows and policy developments, and the Rome Jobs and Labor Mobility Center, which supports orderly and safe migratory flows through better job creation. KNOMAD showed that remittances to developing countries increased in 2022 by an estimated 5 percent to $626 billion. Refugee flows have also increased, especially due to the war on Ukraine; and climate change is set to increase migration, mostly within countries, with the poorest likely to be the most affected.

Accelerating gender equality for sustainable growth and resilience

The world is experiencing an unprecedented set of intertwined crises with particularly negative impacts on women, girls, sexual and gender minorities, and marginalized people. These crises threaten hard-won gains in human capital, economic empowerment, and voice and agency. The negative impacts are further compounded by discriminatory laws and policies, restrictive social norms, gender-based violence, and growing backlash against gender equality.

The Bank Group helps countries work toward progress on gender equality and women's empowerment to achieve sustainable, resilient, and inclusive development. Our work is guided by our Gender Equality Strategy for 2016–23, which seeks to close gaps between men and women across four key pillars: human endowments (health, education, and social protection), jobs, assets, and voice and agency. In fiscal 2023, 95 percent of Bank-financed operations identified a gender gap, devised an intervention to address the gap, and tracked the results—an increase from 50 percent in fiscal 2017. In June 2023, we published our retrospectives on Gender Equality in Development and Gender-Based Violence Prevention and Response in World Bank Operations, looking at progress made in these areas over the past decade. And through our #AccelerateEquality campaign, we hosted a series of analytics, partnerships, events, and milestones to reflect on progress made over the past decade. We continue to engage with stakeholders to inform the 2024–30 World Bank Group Gender Strategy.

Through IDA, we tackle challenges at the forefront of gender equality and girls’ and women’s empowerment, including around sexual and reproductive health, child care, economic inclusion, entry of women into higher-skilled jobs, gender-based violence, and fiscal policy and budget system reforms. IDA resources have supported over 300 country-led actions in targeted areas and reached more than 700 million women and girls since fiscal 2015.

The Umbrella Facility for Gender Equality finances impact evaluations to inform solutions that can be adapted by governments, development partners, and the private sector. We collect and curate data through the Gender Data Portal, which provides sex-disaggregated data for over 900 indicators covering demography, education, health, economic activities, assets, leadership, gender-based violence, and more to inform policies and programs.

We help women participate in economic activity and promote productive economic inclusion. We support cash-for-work programs, greater child care support, agricultural extension services, and better access to financial and digital services, including credit and liquidity for women-led firms. In Serbia, we are improving scientific research, entrepreneurship, and access to finance, with more than half of the $6.8 million in science grants awarded going to women. In countries like Angola, Nigeria, and Tanzania, we help provide safe spaces for girls in schools, improve girls’ sexual and reproductive health, and work with teachers to change norms. Through our support for the Women Entrepreneurs Finance Initiative (We-Fi), we help unlock financing and support systems for women-led and -owned businesses in developing countries. Since 2018, We-Fi has worked with hundreds of partners in over 60 countries to catalyze billions in funding to provide finance and training and address systemic data and policy gaps. 

We also aim to make climate action more effective and inclusive. In Costa Rica, we worked with the government and the Forest Carbon Partnership Facility on a gender analysis to support women’s involvement in activities that help reduce emissions from deforestation and forest degradation as well as conserve and enhance forest carbon stocks.

We work to prevent and respond to gender-based violence by supporting remote counseling services, educating parents on healthy relationships, addressing sexual harassment on public transport, training health workers to identify and refer cases, and strengthening data collection and referral mechanisms. We are helping school management and teachers in Tanzania better prevent and address gender-based violence. We are also addressing gender-based violence through development policy operations, including through stronger legal protections and redress systems.

The Bank Group is committed to non-discrimination, inclusion, and equal opportunity for all, encompassing sexual and gender minorities. Our research and engagement tackles disadvantages facing men and boys, as well as vulnerabilities arising from the intersection of gender with other characteristics, such as poverty, ethnicity, and disability.

Women, Business, and the Law

The latest edition provides a comprehensive look at global progress toward gender equality in the law. It finds that strong progress has been made since 1970, with the average score improving by nearly 70 percent, from 45.8 to 77.1 points. However, reform fatigue seems to have set in, and in 2022, the global pace of reforms fell to a 20-year low. The report highlights that more needs to be done worldwide to ensure that good intentions are accompanied by tangible results.

Investing in sustainable infrastructure

The World Bank works to drive more investment into infrastructure to support high-quality, sustainable projects that maximize value for people, the economy, and the environment. In fiscal 2023, we provided $12.5 billion to support infrastructure spending in developing countries. Yet tremendous gaps remain. Developing countries need to spend about 4.5 percent of GDP annually to fund basic improvements in energy, transport, digital, and other sectors, and another 2.7 percent of GDP on maintenance and operation in these sectors—far more than any one entity can contribute.

In the two decades leading up to the onset of COVID-19, the private sector committed about $97 billion on average annually to infrastructure projects in emerging markets. Though the pandemic had a major impact on private participation in infrastructure, there are encouraging trends toward recovery. Our annual Private Participation in Infrastructure report shows these commitments increased for the second consecutive year in 2022, reaching $91.7 billion across 263 projects for a 23 percent increase from 2021.

By blending public and private financing and combining it with capacity building, guarantees, and risk management, we help create an environment conducive to private investment in infrastructure that is climate-responsive, fiscally sustainable, and bankable. This includes our global platforms, such as the Global Infrastructure Facility, the Public-Private Infrastructure Advisory Facility, and the Quality Infrastructure Investment Partnership. We also work effectively with IFC and MIGA to deploy the full range of World Bank instruments, with the IDA Private Sector Window continuing to support IFC and MIGA in challenging markets—allowing for projects that would otherwise not be commercially viable.

These efforts produce concrete results. In Kenya, we helped establish a strong public-private partnerships pipeline that is expected to mobilize $1.3 billion in private capital for transport, energy, education, and agriculture. In Senegal, the Bank provided comprehensive upstream and downstream support—including project identification, design, and structuring through to financial close—for the first electric vehicle bus rapid transit system in Dakar, which is expected to mobilize $200 million in private capital over 15 years. And World Bank support is helping India advance its energy transition, implement the national infrastructure pipeline, and build capacity on asset recycling.

Investing in nature to support lives and livelihoods

We invest in greener development to help countries tackle the interconnected biodiversity, climate, and pollution crises. We support countries with data and analytics to value nature and make informed decisions about how to sustainably manage land, sea, and freshwater resources to create jobs, improve livelihoods, enhance ecosystem services, decrease pollution, store carbon, and increase resilience to climate change.

At the 15th Conference of the Parties on Biodiversity in December 2022, countries agreed on ambitious new targets for the Global Biodiversity Framework to 2030. The World Bank informed this discussion through a series of briefs on integrating nature into countries’ development policies, scaling up finance, and integrating nature investments with those in climate adaptation and mitigation. Our analytical work also informs ongoing multilateral processes, such as the negotiations on a legally binding treaty on plastics pollution. The Pathways Out of Plastic Pollution report helps countries assess the true cost of plastics and substitute products, and offers guidance on policies that could speed the move toward a more circular economy.

In addition to being the leading multilateral financier of biodiversity, we prioritize nature across all sectors. In the Caribbean, we are making investments across sectors in the “blue economy” to strengthen resilience, create jobs, and accelerate recovery. With the support of the Global Environment Facility, we are piloting wetland restoration in Rwanda to improve climate resilience and livelihoods for more than 250,000 people exposed to flooding. We also work to mainstream nature across the Bank Group’s work, including as part of commitments under IDA and our Climate Change Action Plan for 2021–25.

Ensuring water security for people and the planet

Today, over 2 billion people lack safe drinking water, 3.6 billion people lack safe sanitation, and at least 1.8 billion people face significant flood risk. With 70 percent of the world’s water shared across national boundaries and the variability of transboundary water resources due to climate change, risks of water-induced conflicts are escalating. By 2050, the global economy could face $5.6 trillion in losses due to worsening droughts, storms, and torrential rain in some of the world's largest economies. These challenges are compounded by a burgeoning population; higher demand for water for energy, agriculture, industry, and human consumption; and the escalating climate crisis.

The World Bank Group supports countries as they work toward a water-secure world in a way that fosters inclusive and sustainable development. The One-Wash program in Ethiopia is helping scale up access to water and sanitation by bringing together the water, health, education, and finance sectors. The second phase of the program, which started in 2019, aims to provide safe water to 4.4 million people and better sanitation services to 4.8 million. In the Philippines, where floods are a recurring problem, the Metro Manila Flood Management Project is improving the city’s drainage infrastructure, establishing flood-prevention systems, and relocating informal settler families. These measures are protecting the lives and livelihoods of over a million people, many of whom live in informal settlements along the city’s most flood-prone waterways. In Tajikistan, where almost half the country’s workforce relies on agriculture, we helped modernize irrigation services and increase agricultural productivity, incomes, and food security. And we supported the Haitian government’s response to myriad crises—including a cholera outbreak, Hurricane Matthew, the COVID-19 pandemic, and an earthquake—by helping more than half a million people in rural areas gain access to better water and sanitation services.

Our operations are strengthened by our analytical work. This includes our What the Future Has in Store report, which examines ways to close the growing gap in natural, built, and hybrid water storage to ensure a water-secure world for all. The Hidden Wealth of Nations: Groundwater in Times of Climate Change report advances understanding of the value of groundwater, the costs of mismanagement, and opportunities to leverage its potential. A new analysis on Water Security and Fragility in South Sudan explores opportunities and trade-offs in aligning the country’s water-related investments and policies with its commitment to peace and its climate adaptation needs.

We host two global initiatives: the Global Water Security and Sanitation Partnership, which brings together bilateral partners to help countries work toward water-related Sustainable Development Goals, and the 2030 Water Resources Group, a global public-private partnership for water security. These initiatives provide a global platform to fast track global and country-level action to ensure water security for people and the planet.

Supporting greener and more resilient transport

Transport connects people to jobs, education, health care, and opportunities, but it also exacts a heavy toll on people and the planet through growing global emissions, air pollution, and traffic fatalities.

The Bank works with developing countries to change mobility behaviors and scale up transport solutions that enable people and goods to move in a safe, less-polluting way. We are the largest provider of development financing for transport globally; in fiscal 2023, the Bank committed $2.8 billion for transport-related projects around the world, 56 percent of which had climate co-benefits.

We are working to make electric mobility more accessible for developing countries and helping countries assess their readiness for e-mobility. Electrifying public bus transport fleets, as well as two- or three-wheel vehicles, are two effective ways to jumpstart this transition. In Senegal, the Dakar Bus Rapid Transit Pilot Project will soon introduce the first all-electric bus fleet in Africa.

We are also leveraging our new Global Facility to Decarbonize Transport to further accelerate innovation and investment toward low-carbon mobility solutions in developing countries. In its first year, the facility provided grants to seven programs working to catalyze sustainable mobility investments. Through this new facility, we are helping countries prepare for the electrification of thousands of buses, improve options for public transport in cities, and establish regional financing facilities to modernize the fleet of vehicles and advance zero-emission mobility.

Our transport work extends to road safety as well. Developing countries see over 90 percent of the world’s nearly 1.4 million annual traffic fatalities, despite having fewer than 60 percent of the world’s motor vehicles. We work toward the UN goal of halving road crash fatalities and injuries by 2030 through research and program support provided by the Global Road Safety Facility. This facility recently completed over 1,800 kilometers of road infrastructure safety assessments in Argentina, China, Ethiopia, Ghana, India, the Philippines, and Vietnam, informing $2.3 billion worth of Bank transport investment projects and ensuring that safety is front and center in our project plans.

Recent disruptions to logistics and supply chains have had a severe impact on economic stability and food security, especially for the world’s poorest people. We are helping countries develop more resilient and efficient logistics systems by investing in quality infrastructure, supporting the digitalization of freight transport, and facilitating regional integration and cross-border trade. Our Container Port Performance Index, published annually, identifies critical policies—such as digitalization—to help improve the efficiency of logistics and supply chains. In Africa, we are increasingly focusing on regional corridor programs, including trade and transport connectivity projects in the Horn of Africa that will enhance resilience across the supply chain and help lower food prices.

Paving the path for resilient disaster recovery

The world’s most vulnerable people continue to be battered by earthquakes, cyclones, droughts, floods, and volcanic eruptions. In the aftermath of a disaster, it is imperative to act quickly. Prompt and accurate disaster-impact assessments enable fast mobilization and efficient allocation of relief funds—crucial in directing recovery and reconstruction efforts and informing investments in rebuilding and climate adaptation. Supported by the Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery (GFDRR), the Bank developed the Global Rapid Post-Disaster Damage Estimation methodology, a more cost-effective way to quickly assess economic damages after a disaster. It can provide reliable and accurate estimates of physical damage distribution by area and sector within two weeks, helping efficiently direct resources to where they are most urgently needed. We conducted these assessments for Pakistan, Syria, and Türkiye in the aftermath of earthquakes and floods. Since 2022, this methodology has directly enabled the mobilization of over $500 million from the IDA Crisis Response Window. GFDRR also contributes to the global knowledge base for disaster risk management through its work on nature-based solutions, hydrometeorological services, and inclusive disaster management; it shares this expertise through events such as the Understanding Risk Global Forum.

Building more sustainable and inclusive cities

Cities are home to 56 percent of the global population—a number expected to rise to 70 percent by 2050—and over 80 percent of global economic activity. They also bear the brunt of crises such as pandemics, conflict, displacement, and climate change, which can exacerbate risks and compound inequalities. Our Thriving report found that while cities in high- and upper-middle-income countries contribute significantly to global CO₂ emissions, cities in lower-income countries suffer the most from climate-related shocks and stresses due to poor management of urbanization pressures. This leads to sprawl, homes and businesses built in risky areas, traffic congestion, and more emissions. As the world's largest multilateral financier for sustainable urban development, we support climate-smart development and work with cities and national governments to establish robust financial frameworks and institutions. We help cities deliver better infrastructure and services, attract investment, reduce emissions, adapt to climate risks, and foster inclusive, low-carbon, climate-resilient, and sustainable economies. In Maldives, we are strengthening the resilience of infrastructure, buildings, and communities to climate and disaster risks. We are extending our support for urban services in Rwanda beyond the capital of Kigali to secondary cities, while also helping improve resilience through integrated flood management, wetland rehabilitation, and nature-based solutions. In collaboration with the government of Japan and the city of Hiroshima, we co-convened an international symposium through our Tokyo Development Learning Center in March 2023, gathering high-level officials and technical experts to share best practices to address conflict, climate, and pandemics. We also conduct research on sustainable urban development, including through urbanization reviews, Country Climate and Development Reports, and other analytics, providing city leaders with frameworks to identify policy distortions and analyze investment priorities. Through initiatives such as the City Resilience Program, the City Partnership Program, the Gap Fund, and the City Creditworthiness Initiative, we help cities conduct critical diagnostic studies, develop investable projects and investment pipelines, improve creditworthiness, and raise financing for climate and disaster resilience.

Building social sustainability for better development outcomes

The Bank promotes social cohesion to build trust and help communities work together to address complex development issues, such as migration or climate change. In the Philippines, our engagement in Mindanao brought together groups engaged in conflict to collectively allocate resources and solve problems. In the Sahel, we are helping resolve conflicts between farmers and herders while also strengthening their relationships with the local government.

We see inclusion as more than having access to services and markets; it also affords people the ability to participate in society and engage in development that influences their lives. The Financing Locally Led Climate Action Program enables partnerships between citizens and local governments to assess climate risks and identify inclusive, tailored solutions. In Bangladesh, the Nuton Jibon project assesses extreme weather events and local communities through participatory risk analyses that inform the locations and design of community centers, rural roads, tube wells, and other works. We also strengthen how public decisions are made and implemented by allowing all stakeholders to have a say and be heard, building trust and creating process legitimacy. This includes efforts to transition away from fossil fuels in a fair and just way.

We are boosting resilience within communities so that everyone, including poor and marginalized groups, can safely withstand shocks and protect their cultural integrity. In Argentina, we collaborated with the National Ministry of Production and Labor to strengthen employment offices throughout the country to better address the challenges women face in getting access to training and the formal job market. The project also addressed challenges faced by persons with disabilities, Indigenous peoples, and LGBTI people. In addition, we help countries develop stronger environmental and social regulatory frameworks and institutional capacity.

Through the Global Partnership for Social Accountability, we amplify the voices of the most marginalized communities in systemic ways. This includes the Green Accountability Call for Proposals, which places citizens and civil society at the heart of climate finance to direct funding, implement solutions, and hold decision-makers accountable for effective and equitable climate action.

We actively incorporate technology and agility to amplify citizens’ voices in decision-making. Civic technology explores diverse ways to boost the feedback loop through digital innovation, engaging citizens, communities, civil society groups, and public sector institutions to generate development solutions and improve service delivery. The Bank works to make these tools accessible while ensuring that vulnerable communities gain digital literacy and bridging the digital gender divide.

Strengthening public institutions and improving governance

Governments play a crucial role in protecting citizens and shaping a better future for them, particularly during times of crisis. The World Bank works with countries to strengthen the effectiveness, inclusiveness, and accountability of public institutions, which is essential for ensuring fair and sustainable development, particularly amid growing needs and tightening fiscal space. Our support enables countries to boost public sector productivity, mobilize technology to deliver public services, reduce corruption, and better manage climate-related disasters and other shocks.

In January 2023, we established a new data hub on government and governance patterns in developing countries. It will support a repository of key global, regional, and country-level analytical studies, covering governance issues such as the distribution of power, interests, and resources, as well as organizational capacity, technical processes, and systems. These will include the Country-Level Institutional Assessment and Review, which will provide guidance on conducting reviews of public institutions to influence policy dialogue and inform country engagement.

We developed several tools and datasets to support effective policy reforms. The 2022 Supreme Audit Institutions Independence Index provides insights into the legal and operational independence of crucial institutions in more than 100 countries. We also launched the 2022 GovTech Maturity Index, which assesses how governments in 198 economies are using technology to improve public service delivery and strengthen citizen engagement. Our Worldwide Bureaucracy Indicators constitutes the most comprehensive global dataset on public sector employment and wages, with 192 indicators from 200 economies. The Global Public Procurement Database contains information on laws, regulations, and use of electronic government procurement from over 200 economies. And our Procurement Anticorruption and Transparency platform allows users to monitor and analyze data to strengthen the efficiency and integrity of public procurement.

Corruption can cost lives, reduce access to basic services, and exacerbate inequality—often harming poor people the most. Through our work on anticorruption and integrity, we help countries better detect and deter corruption as early as possible by exploring changes in trends, emerging challenges, and new technologies.

Atlas of Sustainable Development Goals

The Atlas of Sustainable Development Goals 2023 is an interactive storytelling and data visualization platform examining the 17 Sustainable Development Goals adopted by the UN in 2015. As we passed the mid-point of the 2030 target for reaching the goals, the UN warned that reaching the goals is in jeopardy. The atlas highlights trends within each goal and aims to inspire collective action to end poverty, protect the planet, and ensure that all people enjoy peace and prosperity by 2030.