The World Bank is an intergovernmental organisation, founded in 1944 and composed of 187 member countries, whose mission is to reduce poverty around the world.
The World Bank Group (WBG) is made up of five branches:
- the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD)
- the International Development Association (IDA)
- the International Finance Corporation (IFC)
- the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA)
- the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID)
For this project, we have chosen to focus on the IBRD because it is a global research, programme and funding body in development and climate change, and has an increasingly important role as trustee of several global climate finance funds.
The IBRD aims to reduce poverty in middle-income and credit-worthy poorer countries. Its functions include strategy and coordination services, knowledge services and financial services.
The Board of Governors is the IBRD’s senior decision-making body, while 25 Executive Directors are responsible for the general operations of the IBRD. Subject to the general control of the Executive Directors, the President is responsible for the day-to-day running of the IBRD. The Advisory Council meets annually and advises the IBRD on matters of general policy.
On the Publications tab above, we will release findings from this project about the IBRD’s accountability capabilities and how the Bank is preparing itself to tackle climate change. On the External documents and links tab, we will post key documents about these issues collected during the course of our research.
