IF-EYE Newsletter
Issue #46
Friday, February 05, 2010
A publication of the Bank Information Center (BIC)
Welcome to the February 5, 2010 issue of the IF-EYE – the Bank Information Center’s monthly synthesis of key developments concerning international financial institutions. This issue spotlights the newly initiated consultations for the Bank's Energy Strategy, a review of World Bank - Civil Society engagement from 2007 to 2009, and a letter from several Executive Directors about the new U.S. coal guidelines. Please send suggestions, contributions and subscription requests to: info@bicusa.org. Thanks for reading!
in this issue:
1. SPOTLIGHT: World Bank launches Energy Strategy consultations
2. SPOTLIGHT: World Bank reviews civil society engagement 2007-2009
3. SPOTLIGHT: Nine Executive Directors write to President Zoellick about U.S. coal guidelines
4. Civil Society Updates
5. IFI Updates
6. Announcements and Resources
1. SPOTLIGHT: World Bank launches Energy Strategy consultations
After releasing an approach paper late last year, the World Bank's review of its Energy Strategy moved forward in January with the opening of online consultations. The consultation page, open to all interested parties, poses five questions about the direction of World Bank energy lending, in addition to a space for additional suggestions. Complementing the online process will be in-person consultations throughout the world, beginning February 16th, during which stakeholders will be able to talk directly to World Bank officials in the region.
read more
World Bank Energy Strategy consultations homepage (World Bank website)
Energy Strategy online consultation form (World Bank website)
Schedule of consultative hearings (BIC website)
BIC's Energy Campaign homepage (BIC website)
BIC briefing paper on the World Bank Energy Strategy review (Acrobat pdf, 221 KB)
World Bank Energy Strategy approach paper (Acrobat pdf, 290 KB)
2. SPOTLIGHT: World Bank reviews civil society engagement from 2007 to 2009
1/4/2010 The World Bank
In December, the Bank's civil society team released "World Bank – Civil Society Engagement: Review of Fiscal Years 2007 – 2009," and hosted a discussion of the publication in Washington, DC. BIC founder and Executive Director Chad Dobson participated as commenter, noting both the Bank's improvements and continuing obstacles to civil society participation.
Read more (World Bank website)
3. SPOTLIGHT: Nine Executive Directors write to President Zoellick regarding U.S. coal guidelines
2/3/2010 Bank Information Center
On January 13th, nine World Bank executive directors representing China, India, and other countries in the Global South wrote a letter protesting the recently announced U.S. Treasury coal guidelines. The directors objected to the United States placing barriers before the U.S. financing of coal projects internationally while maintaining its own reliance on coal power domestically.
read the letter
ED letter to President Zoellick regarding U.S. coal guidelines, January 13, 2010 (Acrobat pdf, 247 KB)
Read More
U.S. Treasury coal guidance note for MDB coal investments, U.S. Department of the Treasury, December 14, 2009 (BIC website)
BIC comments on U.S. Treasury's new guidance for developing coal power (BIC website)
U.S. to World Bank: Don't fund coal fired plants, by Swati Mathur, Times of India, January 24, 2010 (Times of India website)
China, India, and others hit back at new U.S. coal rules, by Lisa Friedman, E&E News, January 25, 2010 (E&E website, subscription only)
U.S. official tells wind-powered World Bank to stop funding coal power plants, by Matthew McDermott, Tree Hugger, January 27, 2010 (Tree Hugger)
4. Civil Society Updates:
South Africa: Country can no longer ignore the costs of coal
1/28/2010 allAfrica
As the controversy about the World Bank's proposed loan to the South African utility Eskom grows, Saliem Fakir of WWF South Africa looks into the bigger picture of his country's dependence on coal. While interested parties sell coal as a cheap energy source for countries with growing demands, Fakir points out many hidden costs, not just to the environment, but in new investments that will soon be needed to maintain supplies.
read the article
South Africa: Country Can No Longer Ignore the Costs of Coal, by Saliem Fakir, allAfrica, January 28, 2010 (allAfrica website)
New paper from Heinrich Boell criticizes direction of World Bank lending
1/25/2010 Heinrich Boell Foundation
Nancy Alexander's new report finds several worrying trends in how the World Bank spends its money, namely that it is increasing its lending to middle income countries while loans and grants to low income countries stagnate, that DPOs with less stringent safeguards are outpacing project lending, and that the Gender Action Plan is not achieving its goals.
read the paper
Fostering impunity or accountability? Sweeping changes at World Bank-IDA, by Nancy Alexander, Heinrich Boell Foundation, January 2010 (Acrobat pdf, 250 KB)
The politics of climate
1/13/2010 Deccan Chronicle
Dr. Vandana Shiva of the Navdanya Trust reviews the Copenhagen conference and its underlying politics. Coming from a Global South perspective, she finds little basis for continued delay in action or the implicit assumption that present economic dominance by the Global North and certain polluters must be maintained at all costs.
The politics of climate, by Dr. Vandana Shiva, Deccan Chronicle, January 13, 2010 (Deccan Chronicle website)
Phil Radford of Greenpeace spars with World Bank over coal funding
12/22/2009 Foreign Policy
Radford's previous article on Foreign Policy Magazine's website, "Banking on Coal" prompted a response from the Bank's director of energy, transport and water programs. Radford published a rebuttal, arguing that the Bank's numbers presented an incomplete picture, obscuring the extent to which its financing was locking the world into decades of higher emissions.
read more
Coal for Christmas, by Phil Radford, Foreign Policy, December 22, 2009 (Foreign Policy website)
The World Bank responds to Greenpeace, byJamal Saghir, Foreign Policy, December 11, 2009 (Foreign Policy website)
Banking on coal, by Phil Radford, Foreign Policy, December 9, 2009 (Foreign Policy website)
Greenwashing hydropower
12/22/2009 Worldwatch
In the latest issue of Worldwatch, Aviva Imhof of International Rivers and Guy Lanza of the University of Massachussetts, Amherst argue that large hydropower projects achieve neither environmental nor social sustainability.
read the article
Greenwashing hydropower, by Aviva Imhof and Guy Lanza, Worldwatch, January/February 2010 (Acrobat pdf, 791 KB)
5. IFI Updates:
World Bank Environment Strategy consultation calendar now available
Alongside the Energy Strategy review, the Bank has been working on a revision of its broader Environmental Strategy since September 2009. This calendar shows both the upcoming consultation dates and summaries of previous consultations.
Environment Strategy 2010 consultation schedule (World Bank website)
Environment Strategy 2010 homepage (World Bank website)
Five new R-PPs submitted to the FCPF Participants Committee
1/20/2010 Forest Carbon Parnership Facility
Five countries recently submitted Readiness Preparation Proposals to the Participants Committee of the Forest Carbon Partnership Facility. Argentina, DRC, Ghana, Mexico, and Suriname will have their proposals for grant allocation reviewed at the next meeting of the Participants Committee in March.
read more
Latest R-PP submissions (FCPF website)
BIC's Forest Carbon Partnership Facility page (BIC website)
Homepage of the Forest Carbon Partnership Facility
Haiti's recovery, a repeated tragedy
1/19/2010 The Nation
As the world grapples with the ongoing disaster in Haiti, many are asking what went wrong in the once rich colony to leave it so vulnerable and impoverished. The Nation's Richard Kim looks at how structural adjustment loans from IFIs have exacerbated Haiti's woes, and how new loans will continue the cycle.
Read more (The Nation)
Inspection Panel case plants seeds of cultural change at World Bank
1/14/2010 Bank Information Center
What was at first a seemingly simple and non-provocative Inspection Panel case has led the Bank to re-evaluate its relationship with civil society across the MENA region and develop an action plan for engagement. Nadia Daar of BIC's MENA program examines the importance of this development.
Read more (BIC website)
World Bank releases revised Policy on Disclosure of Information
12/23/2009 Global Transparency Initiative
The World Bank released the final adopted version of "Toward Greater Transparency Through Access to Information: The World Bank’s Disclosure Policy," effective date 1 July 2010. The Global Transparency Initiative (GTI) congratulates the World Bank for the significant improvements of the new policy over its predecessor and looks forward to policy implementation.
Read more (BIC website)
India signs agreement with World Bank for coal-fired generation rehabilitation project
12/17/2009 Energy Business Review
The Government of India has signed an agreement with the World Bank for coal-fired generation rehabilitation project. The total cost of the project is $303.4m, out of which $180m will be IBRD loans and $45.4m will be a Global Environment Facility (GEF) grant.
Read More (Energy Business Review website)
Carbon dating the World Bank
12/15/2009 InfoChange India
Using BIC's recently published numbers on World Bank energy lending, Richard Mahapatra of InfoChange India writes about the "carbon trap" that the World Bank is locking developing countries into for the next 30 to 40 years.
read more
Carbon Dating the World Bank, by Richard Mahapatra, InfoChange India, December 8, 2009 (InfoChange India)
World Bank Group energy sector lending trends - FY2009, by Heike Mainhardt-Gibbs, Bank Information Center, December 3, 2009 (Acrobat pdf, 51 KB)
6. Announcements and Resources:
BIC hiring Latin America - REDD Program Assistant
We are looking for a sharp, energetic person with strong writing, communication, and organizing skills to help us in our ongoing campaign to strengthen social and environmental safeguards and ensure meaningful civil society participation in the design and implementation of the World Bank’s programs on Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation (REDD), which includes the Forest Carbon Partnership Facility (FCPF) and Forest Investment Program (FIP). BIC is currently the official NGO Observer for the FCPF. S/he will assist in writing regular updates on IFI REDD initiatives, communicating timely information and analysis to Latin American civil society partners, and organizing national/regional REDD workshops in the region. Click here for more information on our campaign.
The Latin America Program Assistant will be based in BIC’s Washington DC office, with occasional travel to the region.
Read more (BIC website)
Help redesign the World Bank's website
The World Bank’s website is currently undergoing a major renovation, and they want your input. Please help the Bank to improve their website to better fit your needs by filling out the quick survey below and you may be asked to participate in a short online activity to help them find the best way to organize their content. Participants will be given a gift from the World Bank InfoShop.
take the survey
World Bank website redesign eligibility survey (Survey Monkey)
The IFI Insider
In December we launched the IFI Insider, your source for appointments, hearings, and other important news about the inner workings of the World Bank and other institutions. Entries include recent events like Senator Richard Lugar's speech to the Society for International Development, or Ian Solomon's congressional hearing for his nomination to be the U.S. Executive Director at the World Bank, as well as a table of appointments and confirmations. If you have any tips for the insider, write to bnatkin@bicusa.org
The IFI Insider