Recourse and partners at the World Bank and IMF Annual Meetings 2024

Recourse and partners from across the Global South are attending the World Bank and IMF Annual Meetings 2024 in Washington DC this October.

We will hold these 80-year-old institutions accountable for the impacts of their financial flows and policies on people and the planet.

As the World Bank Group (WBG) and International Monetary Fund (IMF) undergo reform, they have a unique opportunity to align with the global priorities of our time: climate justice, human rights and fragility, gender equality, and poverty reduction.

This year, we are meeting with staff, shareholders and a movement of engaged civil society groups, to present our demands and latest research findings, including:

The IMF is justifying austerity measures in the name of climate action while it promotes continued fossil fuel extraction in many of its current loan programmes.

• See NEW report Off track: The long road to mainstreaming climate action into IMF lending

The WBG approved $16 billion for what they classify as ‘renewable’ or ‘clean’ energy in 2023, though many raise concern over potential violations of Indigenous rights, displacement of communities and environmental harms.

• See NEW report and case studies Banking on Renewables campaign

The WBG is still promoting gas, a climate-busting fossil fuel, via its development policy finance, technical assistance, and guarantees through its insurance platform, MIGA.

• See report The End Game for Fossil Gas: How to make World Bank Development Policy Finance align with the Paris Agreement
• And reportDe-risking for climate? MIGA-supported investments on energy projects
  

The Bank’s private sector arm, the International Finance Corporation (IFC) risks funding a wave of ‘captive’ coal expansion in climate-vulnerable countries, via loopholes for financial intermediary lending.

• See report Coal for climate? How Multilateral Development Banks risk financing captive coal expansion
• And case study Obi Island and the dangers of captive coal

The influence of the WBG and IMF is undeniable: these institutions can ‘make or break’ countries’ ability to pursue just energy transitions, and raise environmental and social standards across the whole financial sector.

As the IFC reviews its safeguards policy, Recourse calls on the Bank to meet the mandate set by the G20 last year, starting with new safeguards on climate and financial intermediaries which ensure investments are transparent, accountable and do no harm. 

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Our activities at the World Bank and IMF Annual Meetings 2024 include:

Tuesday 22nd

• 09:30-10:30 in the Preston Auditorium, MC building
  Civil Society Townhall with World Bank Group President, where we get the chance to pose challenging questions to Ajay Banga himself.
• 14.15-15.45 in Room I 2-220
  Civil Society Policy Forum – IFC’s Due Diligence Obligations to Prevent its Financing Activities From Contributing to Climate Change Harms
  Speakers include Fran Witt (Recourse) and Dean Bhebhe (Power Shift Africa)

Wednesday 23rd

• 13:00-14:30 in Room I 2-250
  Civil Society Policy Forum – The Importance of MIGA: New Guarantee Platform and World Bank Evolution Roadmap
  Speakers include Daniel Ribeiro (Justiça Ambiental/Friends of the Earth Mozambique)
• 15:15-16:45 in Room I 2-220
  Civil Society Policy Forum – The Last Mile: Ensuring Effective Implementation of Management Action Plans and Dispute Resolution Agreements

Thursday 24th

• 15.45-17.15 in Room I 2-250
  Civil Society Policy Forum – Strengthening Governance of Development Policy Financing: Improving Transparency, Accountability, Stakeholder Engagement and Paris Alignment
  Speakers include: Hussain Jarwar (Indus Consortium, Pakistan), Ellenor Bartolome (Philippine Movement for Climate Justice).
• 12.00 at Edward Murrow Park
  Protest march – Civil society groups call on the World Bank to act on climate and finance a just transition for a livable planet
• 14.00-15.30 in Room I 2-250
  Civil Society Policy Forum – Advancing 1.5°C-Aligned Climate Action: Excluding Gas from CCAP3.0 and the Corporate Scorecard
  Speakers include Dean Bhebhe (Power Shift Africa), and Daniel Ribeiro (JA!/Friends of the Earth Mozambique)

For media enquiries, contact Madeleine Race (Comms Lead) on madeleine[at]re-course.org or Whatsapp/Signal +44 7405 351 150