They are called the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank, the African Development Bank or the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank. These multilateral development banks work on behalf of states. Germany is one of the most important shareholders. Time and again, many of the projects worth billions disregard human rights, destroy the environment and harm the climate. Together with our partners, we want to change this.
World Bank & Co.
The World Bank in Guyana - Documentary
Carbon Bomb
Off the coast of Guyana and Suriname lies one of the largest crude oil discoveries in recent history: 13.6 billion barrels of oil and 960 billion cubic meters of natural gas lie dormant in the deep sea. ExxonMobil is the leading company in this massive oil production program. The company benefits from the fact that Guyana has received substantial budgetary and technical support from the World Bank to develop an oil sector. Together, "Big Oil" and the World Bank Group risk making Guyana the latest victim of the oil curse while further fueling the global climate crisis. Yet the country's existence is already massively threatened by rising seas. This is because the main settlement and arable areas lie two meters below the water level. Read more in this travel report:
Everything the World Bank is currently doing is to prepare the ground for investors and other financially powerful people in this world.
Urgewald Campaigner Knud Vöcking
Briefly explained: the five areas of the World Bank Group
World Bank Headquarters in Washington, D.C. The World Bank was founded in Bretton Woods, USA, in 1944. It is made up of five different institutions or components.... © Shiny Things - Flickr
"Nucleus" of the World Bank, the IBRD (International Bank for Reconstruction and Development). The term "World Bank" commonly refers to two of its five sub-organizations, the IBRD and the IDA (International Development Association)...
...both have in common that they work mainly with governments of developing countries, not with private companies.
The headquarters of the International Finance Corporation (IFC) in Washington, D.C. It works directly with private companies seeking to make investments in developing countries. © AgnosticPreachersKid
MIGA (Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency) does something similar. Its business model is roughly comparable to that of Hermes guarantees in Germany, which insure projects by German companies abroad on behalf of the German government.
The mission of this autonomous arm of the World Bank Group is to arbitrate disputes and contractual disagreements between foreign investors and the governments of the countries in which investments have been made.
I have learned in my 20 years of observing the World Bank that it leaves such large loopholes in its promises that you could drive a truck through it.
Heike Mainhardt, Senior Adviser at Urgewald
This is how Germany participates in multilateral banks (invested capital and voting share)
Kontakt
Dustin Schäfer
Campaigns on Multilateral Development Financial Institutions, Focus: Accountability and Transparency
dustin [at] urgewald.org
Ute Koczy
Campaigns and Multilateral Development Banks – main focus on World Bank
ute.koczy [at] urgewald.org
+49 (0)2583/30492-0
Heike Mainhardt
Senior Advisor for Multilateral Bank Campaigns
heike.mainhardt [at] urgewald.org
Knud Vöcking
Campaigns on Multilateral Development Banks
knud [at] urgewald.org
+49 (0)2583/30492-14
