Sustainable Economic Systems
We aim to create a more environmentally sustainable and socially just world by transforming financial and economic systems. We work to redirect tax policies and public spending to make polluters pay for the costs of their pollution, and to drive the transition to a cleaner, low-carbon economy. At home and abroad, we advocate for policies that minimize environmental and social harm and fund a brighter future. In the United States, we strengthen regulations to encourage sustainability in financial markets and fight trade policies that allow companies to run roughshod over the environment and human rights. We also work with allies around the world to alter lending practices at financial institutions such as the World Bank, the U.S. Export-Import Bank and Wall Street banks that fund polluting activities and harm communities in developing countries.
International public finance for fossil fuels from 40 signatories of the Clean Energy Transition Partnership (CETP) has fallen by up to 78%.
The U.S. Export-Import Bank ignored its own charter and applicable laws to push through this risky nearly $5 billion project financing approval before Congress or the public could weigh in.
There are legal procedures and processes in place to ensure the U.S. Export-Import Bank does not waste taxpayer dollars on risky projects plagued by violent insurgencies.
This progress shows how banks and financial institutions can — and must — be held accountable to protect biodiversity.
It is critical that investors — and the general public — understands how companies’ activities may be contributing to climate change, what the climate financial risk of their business is, and whether they have plans for transitioning to a low-carbon economy.
Fossil fuel financing from those signers is falling drastically, and most signatories have either eliminated or considerably reduced fossil fuel financing.
Mining, oil and gas and industrial agribusiness driving 90 percent of forest and biodiversity destruction, and while there are tireless campaigns everywhere to reign in the destruction, if the incentives don’t change, the outcomes won’t change either.
The World Bank Group (WBG) plays a massive role in directing global economic development, and has the potential to support climate mitigation and adaptation by strategically using public funds. Unfortunately, it continues to invest in profitable, polluting companies under the guise of green development. Over the past year, the…
The World Bank Group's mission is to end extreme poverty and promote shared prosperity on a livable planet.