Adapting to climate change: assessing World Bank Group experience phase III

This report presents an extensive review of the World Bank’s experience dealing with climate variability and climate change, offering valuable lessons on adaptation efforts worldwide. It answers questions in three areas: (i) dealing with climate variability; (ii) factoring climate change risks into investment projects; and (iii) anticipating climate change. In addition to this learning-focused agenda, the evaluation also asks how the Bank Group has performed against climate adaptation goals of the Bank Group’s Strategic Framework for Development and Climate Change (FY09-11).

The evaluation reviews the impact of longer-standing efforts to deal with climate variability, for instance via drought relief, sustainable land management, and flood control. It also looks at how, and how well, the World Bank Group has incorporated climate change risks into the design and appraisal of long-lived infrastructure. It assesses early lessons from a new crop of activities that explicitly grapple with climate adaptation at the national level.