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What Reform of the World Bank Might Look Like

Provided by: The Climate Reality Project |Published on: August 14, 2025

Articles/Websites

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Synopsis

In this article from The Climate Reality Project, students will learn about the World Bank and other Multilateral Development Banks, understanding the need for reform in order to properly address climate change and its impacts.
Students will learn a brief history of the World Bank, its tendency to support the use of fossil fuels, and the need for better support for the Global South to properly adapt to climate change.

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Subjects: Economics, Civics

Authors: The Climate Reality Project

Region: Global

Languages: English

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Teaching Materials

Positives

This article does a great job of explaining Multilateral Development Banks and unfamiliar terms.
Students will be able to read this short article and discuss it during class, if needed.

Prerequisites

Students should understand that the burning of fossil fuels contributes to climate change and should understand the impacts of climate change.
It may benefit students to understand the goal to keep warming under 1.5 degrees and that we have already reached that mark.

Differentiation & Implementation

Students can make history connections by researching the initial creation of the World Bank and its purpose.
The section, What Could Reform Look Like for the World Bank references the importance of sustainable development. Teachers can use this section to make connections to the UN Sustainable Development Goals, especially Goal 1, No Poverty, Goal 10, Reduced Inequalities, and Goal 13, Climate Action.
To make connections to language arts, students can write persuasive letters to the World Bank's President, drawing on evidence from this article and their own research.
Teachers may want to read this article as a class and pause after each section to discuss some of the major points. This article is short, but it packs a lot of information into each of the sections that students may need time to digest.

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About the Partner Provider

The Climate Reality Project

Climate Reality Project seeks to catalyze a global solution to the climate crisis by making urgent action a necessity across every sector of society. They recruit, train, and mobilize people to become powerful activists, providing the skills, campaigns, and resources to push for aggressive climate action and high-level policies that accelerate a just transition to clean energy.

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All resources can be used for your educational purposes with proper attribution to the content provider.