Greening the Bretton Woods institutions

This article finds that:

• the IMF and World Bank have failed to integrate environmental sustainability into their lending, concentrating instead on export-led exploitation of natural resources.
• congressional funding pressure has had some success in promoting transparency, accountability, and environmentally sound policies at the BWIs
• despite years of reform efforts, the World Bank’s structural adjustment loans still do not follow the institution’s environmental policies

The article criticises U.S. policy:

• although IMF and World Bank structural adjustment programs can lead to environmental degradation and increased poverty, there are currently no requirements for environmental and social assessments of these loans
• the World Bank’s lending portfolio reveals continued funding of environmentally harmful projects and decreased funding of environmentally beneficial projects, belying its green image
• he World Bank’s environmental and social policies have been weakened over the years, and World Bank staff often ignore those that remain

The article recommends that:

• the U.S. should insist on environmental and social assessments for structural adjustment lending
• the U.S. should pressure the World Bank to phase out destructive investments in sectors like fossil fuel and mining, and shift to sustainable energy
• the U.S. should urge the establishment of a development screen for the World Bank’s private sector loans