A new Bretton Woods? Critical perspectives on the World Bank’s proposed ‘evolution roadmap’ – a public debate

Moderated panel discussion, followed by an audience Q&A session

Recent years have seen growing calls for reform of the World Bank and other multilateral development banks – with calls for a ‘new Bretton Woods’ proliferating in numerous fora.

This public debate will explore these issues, by unpacking the World Bank’s recent ‘Evolution Roadmap’ proposals, contextualising them within broader calls for reform of the international financial architecture, and surfacing critical civil society and academic perspectives.

In October, G7+ nations called on World Bank Group (WBG) management to produce an ‘evolution roadmap’ at the 2022 World Bank Annual Meetings, to address how it will broaden its mandate to encompass inter-linked global challenges, including climate change, fragility and growing global health threats. World Bank management submitted a ‘draft evolution roadmap’ to the WBG’s executive board in late December. The ‘evolution roadmap’ process is expected to continue through this year – as Bank management and shareholders attempt to reach a consensus on agreed reforms. The recently announced departure of World Bank President David Malpass potentially heightens the stakes of reform discussions, as the Bank embarks on a search for a new head.

The World Bank’s evolution roadmap process takes place amidst a deteriorating global economic context, characterised by a deeply uneven recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic, growing debt distress across many middle- and low-income countries, a reversal in global extreme poverty rates, increased climate change impacts, commodity price shocks in the food and energy sectors, and shrinking official development aid budgets – a series of overlapping challenges the World Bank itself has claimed is causing a ‘crisis of development’.

While few doubt the need for substantial development finance to kick-start the global low-carbon energy transition and get back on track with efforts to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals, a lively debate rages about how to reform the global financial architecture to facilitate this – which this event will explore.

Moderator

Luiz Vieira, Bretton Woods Project

Panellists

• Daniela Prates, UNCTAD
• Maria Jose Romero, Eurodad
• Phil Stevens, Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office
• Uli Volz, SOAS Centre for Sustainable Finance
• Ian White, World Bank Group Special Representative to UK & Ireland
• Fran Witt, Recourse

Registration

The event is free and open to all. We kindly ask participants to register online in advance.