1. Research & Outlook

Sustainability and Infrastructure

January 7, 2022
Lasting poverty reduction requires sustainable natural resource management as well as infrastructure development. This research program encompasses energy, environment, land, agriculture, water, climate change, biodiversity, and urbanization.
Featured Research
  • GDF Banner Satellite image with Sun

    Satellite-Based Carbon Emissions Database

    August 2022
    To better track carbon pledges and support mitigation finance, researchers have developed a new database and web facility that place carbon data at the user’s fingertips. The database meets the urgent need to track carbon pledges by providing objective, spatially-referenced, frequently-updated information for tracking CO2 trends in local areas and regions. With gridded information at 25 km resolution, the system can support analyses for states, provinces, urban areas and project areas.
    Blog Post |  Decade of Action |  World Bank Group COP26 Climate Briefs
  • Land Conference 2017

    Land Research, Data, and Policy Insights

    Land is at the center of many of the world's pressing challenges. The World Bank's Development Research Group is generating new insights into how countries can reform their land policies to effectively tackle rural poverty, rapid urbanization, equity, and environmental degradation.
    Land Governance Assessment Framework |  Next Land Conference (March 21-25, 2022, Washington, DC)
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    Energy Subsidies in Russia: Size, Impact, and Potential for Reform

    Apurva Sanghi and Jevgenijs Steinbuks, December 2021
    This report seeks to understand the size, impacts, and potential for energy subsidy reform in the Russian Federation and highlights key areas for consideration by policymakers as they explore approaches to reduce energy subsidies.
    Main Report |  Annexes |  More research by Jevgenijs Steinbuks
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    Education as the Great Leveler? Not Necessarily, Says New Research

    November 2021
    Historically, education has often been seen as the great leveler—a mechanism that can allow even those from the poorest circumstances to succeed. But as a growing body of research has shown, educational systems can entrench rather than weaken inequality. When highly educated parents are able to ensure their children benefit disproportionately, education systems pass on advantages from one generation to the next. In this Policy Research Talk, World Bank economist Forhad Shilpi presented new research on intergenerational mobility in education in developing countries.
    Presentation |  Feature Story |  Video |  Related Newsletter |  More research by Forhad Shilpi
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    Carbon Pricing for Climate Action

    July 2021
    Carbon prices are considered efficient economic instruments for reducing greenhouse gases. This report looks at where and how carbon pricing fits into a broader set of policy instruments for stimulating low-carbon investments.
    Download the Report |  More about co-author Govinda Timilsina
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    The Implications of Behavioral Economics for Public Utility Policies

    December 2020
    In this Policy Research Talk, World Bank economist Hanan Jacoby explored the cognitive limitations of consumers flagged by behavioral economics and how they interact with the policy questions faced by public utilities. The talk draws on recent research in Vietnam, undertaken in partnership with both a water and an electricity service provider. The electricity experiment allows a study of consumer inattention and the value of providing real-time usage information, while the piped water experiment addresses pricing of utility services when consumers form habits.
    Presentation |  Video |  Working Paper |  Event Information |  More about Hanan Jacoby
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    Electricity Availability and Economic Activity: Lessons from Developing Countries

    September 2020
    In this Policy Research Talk, World Bank economist Jevgenijs Steinbuks discussed key insights from recent studies of electricity access and reliability in developing countries, and lesson learned from his own recent empirical work on the power sector in Brazil, Nepal, Ukraine, and a number of countries in Sub-Saharan Africa.
    Main Presentation (PDF) |  Discussant Presentation (PDF) |  Video |  Event Information |  More research by Jevgenijs Steinbuks  |  Newsletter on Electricity and Development

LATEST WORKING PAPERS

Quantifying War-Induced Crop Losses in Ukraine in Near Real Time to Strengthen Local and Global Food Security
Klaus Deininger, Daniel Ayalew Ali, Nataliia Kussul, Andrii Shelestov, Guido Lemoine, Hanna Yailimova
World Bank Policy Research Working Paper 10123, July 2022

The Impact of COVID-19 on Electricity Generation: An Empirical Investigation
Chang Shen, Anna Alberini, Govinda Timilsina
World Bank Policy Research Working Paper 10116, November June 2022

Green Innovation and Economic Growth in a North-South Model
Jan Witajewski-Baltvilks, Carolyn Fischer
World Bank Policy Research Working Paper 10096, November June 2022

Why Do Indian States Differ in Their Infrastructure Development
Govinda Timilsina, Pravakar Sahoo, Ranjan Kumar Dash
World Bank Policy Research Working Paper 10086, November June 2022

More Working Papers

LATEST JOURNAL ARTICLES

Island area changes in the Sundarban region of the abandoned western Ganga–Brahmaputra–Meghna Delta, India and Bangladesh
Sunando Bandyopadhyay, Nabendu Sekhar Kar, Susmita Dasgupta, Dipanwita Mukherjee, Abhijit Das
Geomorphology 108482, October 8, 2022

Structural Transformation of the Agricultural Sector In Low- and Middle-Income Economies
Klaus Deininger, Songqing Jin, Meilin Ma
Annual Review of Resource Economics vol. 14, October 2022

Sub-sampling a Large Physical Soil Archive for Additional Analyses to Support Spatial Mapping; A Pre-registered Experiment in the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples Region (SNNPR) of Ethiopia
Robel Alemu, Aweke Gelaw, Dawd Gashu, Kibrom Tafere, Abdul Mossa, Elizabeth Bailey, William Masters, Martin Broadley, Murray Lark
Geoderma vol. 424, October 2022

Institutional determinants of large land-based investments’ performance in Zambia: Does title enhance productivity and structural transformation?
Daniel Ayalew Ali, Klaus Deininger
World Development vol. 157, September 2022

Plastic Waste Cleanup Priorities to Reduce Marine Pollution: A Spatiotemporal Analysis for Accra and Lagos with Satellite Data
Susmita Dasgupta, Maria Sarraf, David Wheeler
Science of The Total Environment vol. 839, September 2022

Discounting Disaster: Land Markets and Climate Change in the Indian Sundarbans
Sumana Bandyopadhyay, Sunando Bandyopadhyay, Susmita Dasgupta, Chinmoyee Mallik, David Wheeler
Ecology, Economy and Society vol. 5, issue 2, July 2022

Bridge to bigpush or backwash? market integration, reallocation, and productivity effects of Jamuna bridge in Bangladesh
Brian Blankespoor, M. Shahe Emran, Forhad Shilpi, Xu Lu
Journal of Economic Geography vol. 22, issue 4, July 2022

Microfinance, Moneylenders, and Economic Shocks: An Assessment of the Bangladesh Experience
M. Shahe Emran, Forhad Shilpi
Journal of Bangladesh Studies vol. 24, issue 1, June 2022

Biophysical Impact of Sunflower Crop Rotation on Agricultural Fields
Nataliia Kussul, Klaus Deininger, Leonid Shumilo, Mykola Lavreniuk, Daniel Ayalew Ali, Oleg Nivievskyi 
Sustainability vol. 14 (7), March 2022

Addressing Declining Female Labor Force Participation in India: Does Political Empowerment Make a Difference
Klaus Deininger, Songqing Jin, Hari K. Nagarajan, Sudhir K. Singh 
Journal of Development Studies vol. 58, issue 9, March 2022

Coastal dilemma: Climate change, public assistance and population displacement
Susmita Dasgupta, David Wheeler, Sunando Bandyopadhyay,Santadas Ghosh, Utpal Roy
World Development 150: 105707, February 2022

Fishing in Salty Waters: Climate Change, Saline Exposure and Women’s Health in the Indian Sundarbans
Susmita Dasgupta, David Wheeler, Santadas Ghosh
Journal of Management and Sustainability 12 (1): 2022 

 

Books and Reports
  • Regional Integration

    Energy Subsidies in Russia: Size Impact and Potential for Reform

    Apurva Sanghi, Jevgenijs Steinbuks, December 1, 2021
    This report seeks to understand the size, impacts, and potential for energy subsidy reform in the Russian Federation to inform policymakers as they explore approaches to reducing such subsidies.
  • Image

    Coping with Climate Change in the Sundarbans: Lessons from Multidisciplinary Studies

    Susmita Dasgupta, David Wheeler, Md. Istiak Sobhan, Sunando Bandyopadhyay, Ainun Nishat, and Tapas Paul, November 2020
    Climate change is a major threat to the Sundarbans — the world’s largest remaining contiguous mangrove forest — wetland of international importance, and the surrounding poor communities whose livelihoods depend on its natural resources. This book synthesizes multiyear, multidisciplinary studies that assess the vulnerability of this ecosystem and its neighboring coastal communities and recommend “resilient-smart” adaptation measures. The methods and findings will be of interest to development practitioners, policy makers, and researchers focused on island nations and countries worldwide that feature high density populations and economic activity in low-lying coastal regions vulnerable to sea-level rise.
    Download the report |  More research by Susmita Dasgupta
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Carolyn Fischer

Carolyn Fischer

Research Manager, Sustainability and Infrastructure
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