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The ninth Sustainable Development Goal advises countries to build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization and foster innovation. Industry has historically been one of the most important pillars of economic and social development, but traditional resource-intensive and heavily polluting production is no longer sustainable in the face of climate change. If the path of industrial growth is not redirected immediately and effectively, reaching the target set in the 2015 Paris Agreement to avoid dangerous climate change by limiting global warming to well below two degrees celsius, will become unrealizable. The good news is that recent practices demonstrate how industry could be a big part of the solution for climate mitigation and inclusive, sustainable development. The unprecedented task presented in Paris, to decarbonize, globally introduces challenges but also enormous opportunities for industries as they seek a greener path to production while remaining globally competitive. This report helps chart that path to industrial competitiveness through policy and technology interventions that improve industrial operations. At the same time it explores ways that industrial products can become greener through public standards while companies and countries maintain, and even increase, competitiveness. The information is directed toward government leaders, policy makers, and multilateral institutions in the fields of energy, climate mitigation, and sustainable development. The report’s recommendations to policy makers are based on comprehensive case studies and quantitative and qualitative analyses.

This article outlines the current state of affairs in fossil fuel subsidy reform, and highlights its contribution at the nexus of climate policy, fiscal stability and sustainable development. It discusses common definitions, provides quantitative estimates, and presents the evidence for key arguments in favour of subsidy reform. The main drivers and barriers for reform are also discussed, including the role of (low) oil prices and political economy challenges. Commitments to subsidy reform by the international community are reviewed, as well as the progress at the country level. Although fossil fuel subsidy reform indeed plays a critical role in climate policy, experience shows that the rationale for such reforms is determined in a complex environment of political economy challenges, macro-economic, fiscal and social factors, as well as external drivers such as energy prices. The article synthesizes the key principles for designing effective reforms and emphasizes that subsidy reforms cannot only yield fi...

Several studies evaluated the feasibility of using residues to compose asphalt mixtures. However, the demand for treatments are often neglected in determining the environmental impacts. This study ...

Traditional infrastructure systems worldwide rely on built solutions to support the smooth and safe functioning of societies. in the face of multiplying environmental threats, this approach alone can no longer provide the climate resiliency and level of services required in the 21st century. Natural systems such as forests, floodplains, and soils can contribute to clean, reliable water supply and protect against floods and drought. In many circumstances, combining this “green infrastructure” with traditional “gray infrastructure,” such as dams, levees, reservoirs, treatment systems, and pipes, can enhance system performance, boost resilience, lower costs, and better protect communities. Service providers such as water utilities, flood management agencies, irrigation agencies, and hydropower companies can deliver more cost-effective and resilient services by integrating green infrastructure into their plans. However, to guide its appropriate use in mainstream infrastructure programs, green infrastructure must be as rigorously evaluated and carefully designed as gray projects. This report guides developing country service providers and their partners on how to seize this opportunity. It offers service providers a framework to evaluate green infrastructure from a technical, environmental, social, and economic perspective, and to assess key enabling conditions, with illustrative examples. It also provides guidance for policymakers and development partners, who must set the incentives and enabling conditions to mainstream solutions that unite green and gray infrastructure.

To ensure the viability and competitiveness of agriculture and forestry and sustain rural livelihoods, it is critical to take stock of the impacts of climate change on rural sectors in Europe and Central Asia (ECA) countries and implement appropriate adaptive measures. The interactions between the weather-sensitive agriculture and forestry sectors, climate change, and the natural resource base are highly complex and deserve special attention. Globally, the increased frequency of heat stress, droughts and flooding events caused by climate change threaten to reduce crop yields and livestock productivity in many areas, while increased risks of fires and pest outbreaks will have negative consequences for forests. In this paper, the authors examine the exposure, sensitivity, and adaptive capacity of ECA agriculture to climate change, and provide recommendations for addressing the challenges of climate through adaptation. We have made use of the best available climate change projections to categorize countries in the region by likely agricultural sector impacts. We have also attempted to synthesize information from the literature on climate change adaptation in agriculture in order to identify the most relevant points for ECA countries, including options for technical, institutional and policy measures. Based on this initial assessment, there are plans to support World Bank clients in carrying out assessments and developing strategies at the country level in the near future.

The World Bank Group (WBG) has focused on reducing the environmental impacts of its internal operations and improving corporate environmental practices since 2002, when the WBG President announced WBG's commitment to Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). The objective of this document is to summarize the actions WBG has taken thus far to reduce environmental impacts from internal operations and present an action plan to further integrate sustainability into WBG's internal operations. Although this work focuses on the environmental impact associated with WBG daily operations, the links between WBG policies and actions related to environmental management and the financial/social considerations are significant. The International Finance Corporation (IFC) footprint and World Bank corporate responsibility teams facilitate the sustainability commitment of the WBG and monitor and track its progress. These teams provide technical information and research support to a dedicated group of champions throughout the WBG who implement emission reduction activities. Budget for these activities flows primarily through the environment department, the general services department, and IFC facilities management and administration. The environment department and IFC facilities management each resource one staff member to provide back-up research support and to monitor and report on environmental metrics, with building engineers and managers and project officers from across the WBG contributing.

The mining industry, which provides input to almost every product and service in the world, is a critical component of sustainable growth in mineral-rich countries and the economy at large. This report is intended to deliver an account of mining technologies, processes, and strategies that seek to incorporate environmental sustainability considerations and have the potential for local value creation and green growth. The analysis focuses on three areas--renewable energy, water management, and automation and transportation--that are considered to have the broadest impact on environmental sustainability and in-country value creation through economic linkages. A reference case study is presented for each of the four benchmark minerals: gold mining in Burkina Faso, iron ore in Australia, copper in Peru, and cement in India. The report is part of a series of background reports that inform the research on Building Resilience: A Green Growth Framework for Mobilizing Mining Investment.

This paper conducts an assessment of the global costs for expanding, upgrading, and improving irrigation infrastructure in developing countries, along different future scenarios toward 2050. It uses the GLobal BIOsphere Management Model, a partial equilibrium model of the global agricultural and forestry sectors. It examines the impacts of irrigation expansion on the agriculture and food system, from the perspective of different Sustainable Development Goals, in particular food security (goal 2), land use change and biodiversity (goal 15), greenhouse gas emissions (goal 13), and sustainable water use (goal 6). It finds that irrigation support policies improve food security globally and can reduce the burden on land by limiting expansion of cropland area. However, the effectiveness of irrigation to achieve a larger set of goals depends on the regional context. In South Asia and the Middle East and North Africa, the expansion of irrigation increases unsustainable water extraction practices. A sensitivity analysis is conducted to evaluate the uncertainty of the infrastructure costs and impacts under different socioeconomic developments, levels of radiative forcing and climate change scenarios, dietary patterns, trade openness, and efficiencies of irrigation systems. The findings indicate that irrigation systems could play an important role in adaptation to the most adverse climate change; however, increased water scarcity may also limit adaptation potentials.