The Green Recovery Initiative (GRI) is a strategic CSF program that assists developing countries in rebuilding better from the COVID-19 pandemic and achieving a green economic recovery. The World Bank Group has deployed over $157 billion through June 2021 to help countries and private sector clients respond to the public health and socio-economic repercussions of the COVID-19 pandemic. Activities supported by the GRI leverage existing World Bank dialogue with countries to advance reforms and investments required to promote a sustainable recovery.
Against the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic, the GRI aims to strengthen institutions, capacity, and policies for green recovery. The CSF defines green recovery as: ‘a holistic and inclusive response to the COVID-19 crisis that mainstreams climate change considerations into short-term economic recovery, and promotes climate-neutral and climate-resilient economic transformation aligned with the goals of the Paris Agreement and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development’.
The GRI builds on countries’ immediate priorities and lays the groundwork for ambitious climate action in the long-term by supporting countries to: (i) prevent the rollback of existing climate-related efforts; (ii) include climate-smart investments in recovery and stimulus packages; and (iii) explore opportunities for resilience, emission reductions and, where possible, decarbonization in economic recovery efforts. The GRI advances these goals through four funding windows:
- Project Design and Implementation Support: Support for countries in the design and implementation of green recovery measures in Bank-financed budget support packages, government spending programs, and investments.
- Economic Advisors Initiative: Funds to embed specialized economic advisors in government ministries responsible for implementing economic recovery measures that help improve climate financial flows and develop resource mobilization strategies in beneficiary countries.
- Analytical Tools and Methodologies: Resources for developing tools and methodologies for upstream analysis related to low emissions and climate-resilient development, including macroeconomic analysis, financial and fiscal risk assessment and planning, distributional effects of climate policies, and sectoral modelling.
- Whole-of-Economy Country Support: Support for developing countries to advance a ‘Whole-of-Economy’ approach to climate change and undertake cross-sectoral policy reforms to deliver on their Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) and Long-Term Strategies (LTSs).
Finally, the GRI has led the formation of a Technical Working Group (TWG) on green recovery monitoring and evaluation. The objective of the TWG is to enhance understanding of the meaning of green recovery and contribute to the development of methods and indicators to measure and evaluate activities in support of this process. The Green Recovery TWG is currently composed of over a dozen institutional partners, including the NDC Partnership, Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, Global Environment Facility, International Monetary Fund (IMF), among others.
