The results of a major global assessment of government budget systems and practices raise serious questions about the prospects for individual countries to overcome poverty and promote economic development and for international efforts like the Millennium Development Goals.

Four years after the onset of the global financial crisis, the worst appears to be over. However, the global economy remains fragile, as high-income countries continue to suffer from volatility and slow growth, says the World Bank’s latest Global Economic Prospects.

This policy note examines the poverty and distribution impact of one such reform – residential electricity tariff increases - along with their fiscal implications. A challenge of such adjustments is how to minimize their impact on the poor and vulnerable.

The GEF has been playing an invaluable role in supporting developing countries to pioneer practices that introduce sustainability and resilience features into agriculture and food security investments.

The Global Green Economy Index evaluates the efforts of countries to create environmentally sustainable economies, focusing on efforts to invest in clean energy technology, sustainable forms of tourism, and improved domestic environmental quality.

Few problems are as pressing and as existential for the world as climate change, and few have proven to be as intractable. Three decades of international negotiations on climate change have yielded little by way of action that would substantially slow, let alone reverse, human-caused climate change. Can things be different?

Although a high rate of urbanization and a high incidence of rural poverty are two distinct features of many developing countries, there is little knowledge of the effects of the former on the latter.

Pollution from fossil fuels and degraded natural lands are raising the earth's temperature. The evidence of the causes of global warming is clear, as are its consequences. The economic impacts of climate change are already apparent and they threaten development gains.

This report provides Mayors and other policymakers with a policy framework and diagnostic tools to anticipate and implement strategies that can prevent their cities from locking into irreversible physical and social structures. At the core of the policy framework are the three main dimensions of urban development.

This new book by World Bank explores the complex process of transit and land-use integration in the growing cities in developing countries including India. Focuses on identifying barriers to and opportunities for effective coordination of transport infrastructure and urban development.