This report explains in plain terms what the World Bank Group is doing throughout the globe in the realms of climate and energy and challenges its rhetoric on sustainability and poverty alleviation. This report describes how the World Bank’s financing is being delivered and the impacts of this funding on the ground. By examining these cases, a number of troubling trends emerge.

With its legacy of environmental and social harm, evasion of safeguards and accountability, and a questionable track record on reducing poverty - as demonstrated in the following case studies - the World Bank must make radical changes to the way it does business. Without a dramatic transformation, the World Bank will continue failing to live up to its motto of “Working for a world free of poverty”, while undermining any attempts it makes to claim leadership in halting climate change and hastening the transition to low-carbon economies.