The World Bank and climate change

The reduction of greenhouse gas emissions is inextricably linked with econo mic and development policies. This raises the question, to what extent do t he commitments to reduce carbon dioxide emissions under the Climate Change Convention affect the practices and policies of the World Bank? After brief ly describing the interaction between climate change and economic developme nt, as well as the respective instruments of the Climate Change Treaty and the World Bank, this paper identifies several windows through which the obl igations set out by the Climate Change Treaty affect the World Bank. These include the Global Environmental Facility, the Operational Policies adopted by the Executive Directors of the World Bank, specific loan structures and conditions as well as the recent Prototype Carbon Fund.