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Uganda Country Climate and Development Report
Get PDFThe World Bank Group’s Country Climate and Development Reports (CCDRs) are a core diagnostic that integrates climate change and development. They help countries prioritize the most impactful actions that can reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and boost adaptation and resilience, while delivering on broader development goals. CCDRs build on data and rigorous research and identify main pathways to reduce GHG emissions and climate vulnerabilities, including the costs and challenges as well as benefits and opportunities from doing so. The reports suggest concrete, priority actions to support the low-carbon, resilient transition. As public documents, CCDRs aim to inform governments, citizens, the private sector and development partners and enable engagements with the development and climate agenda. CCDRs feed into other core Bank Group diagnostics, country engagements and operations, and help attract funding and direct financing for high-impact climate action.The Country Climate and Development Report (CCDR) for Uganda examines the interplay between climate change and development. It presents how addressing climate change can support achieving the goals in Uganda’s Vision 2040 and Ten-Fold Growth Strategy, and help propel the country to upper-middle-income status.
Uganda is the 14th most vulnerable nation to climate change, yet it is 163rd in readiness to address these risks, facing threats such as droughts and floods. The report highlights that, of the poorest households exposed to climate change, 80 percent already experience income loss from climate shocks. GDP could also drop by up to 3.1 percent by 2050 without additional climate action. Climate change poses numerous challenges, including increased variability in crop yields, potential internal climate migration of 12 million people by 2050, notable drop in labor productivity due to heat stress, increased health risks from waterborne diseases and malaria, and exposure of the country’s physical infrastructure to extreme climate events.
To combat these challenges, the report recommends transitioning to a low-carbon, climate-resilient growth path by implementing four multisectoral intervention packages. These include boosting resilience through jobs for youth and services for the poor; promoting resilient and productive agriculture and natural resources with lower GHG emissions; developing climate-responsive energy, transport, and digital infrastructure; and fostering planned and climate-positive urbanization. Additionally, the report calls for whole-of-economy measures that strengthen governance of climate action, enhance preparedness for climate hazards including through improved early warning systems, operationalization of the national climate finance strategy, and incentivizing private sector participation. By implementing these intervention packages and whole-of-economy measures, Uganda can lower its risk to climate change and achieve sustainable economic growth
Banking on Cities: Investing in Resilient and Low-Carbon Urbanization
Get PDFCities around the world are responsible for ever-growing shares of people, assets, and economic activities vulnerable to climate disasters. They are also responsible for the majority of the world’s carbon emissions. Cities in low- and middle-income countries still have a window of opportunity to grow in resilient and low-carbon ways, to protect their populations and build strong and sustainable economic foundations.
What are the resilient and low-carbon investments that these cities could make in the coming decades? How much will these investments cost, and where can cities look for resources to pay for these investments? These are the questions that Banking on Cities: Investing in Resilient and Low-Carbon Urbanization considers.
The publication provides the most comprehensive and up-to-date assessment of key resilient and low-carbon investment costs in major urban sectors in all low- and middle-income countries to 2050. These include investments in urban transportation, energy-efficient buildings, solid waste management, water and wastewater, flood protection, and heat resilience.
The estimated total cost of these investments revealed by this analysis is sobering: between US821 billion per year. However, “climate” investments are not a separate category of investments that cities need to make in addition to their regular investments. These are core urban investments that cities need to make for their local economic and social benefits in addition to their climate benefits.
Banking on Cities advances the discussion on urban climate finance by exploring how cities can identify sources of funding and finance that are suited to different types of resilient and low-carbon urban investments. Just as climate investments are not a separate category of investments, climate finance is not necessarily a separate category of finance. While climate-specific sources, including carbon markets, green bonds, and others, are part of the picture, making these investments will require cities to address their financial fundamentals, including revenues, transfers, creditworthiness, and fiscal efficiency.
This report will be a helpful guide for cities and national governments as they develop their urban investment strategies
Adaptive Social Protection for Pandemics in South Asia
Get PDFThe COVID-19 pandemic exposed significant gaps in social protection systems, especially in South Asia, where financial constraints limited support for vulnerable populations. This paper emphasizes the need for adaptive social protection (ASP) systems that include pandemic-specific measures to enhance resilience and preparedness for future pandemics. The paper employs a stress-test methodology to explore the adequacy of social protection measures implemented during the COVID-19 pandemic across various South Asian countries. The results indicate that while social protection programs provided crucial support during the pandemic, there were significant disparities in coverage and effectiveness due to limited fiscal space and high borrowing costs. The study also found that countries with pre-existing scalable social protection provisions were better able to respond to the crisis, suggesting that investments in ASP are essential for future pandemic preparedness. While South Asian countries have made progress in adopting ASP, their social protection systems need to raise to the challenge posed by future pandemics
The Lasting Impact of Personal Initiative Training
Get PDFA large share of jobs in low-income countries
are found in self-employment and small
firms. Standard business training programs
aim to increase the incomes in these firms by
teaching a set of business practices.
However, such efforts have had relatively
limited impacts, with meta-analysis finding a
5-12% increase in sales and profits. It is also
unclear how long such impacts last, and
whether owners keep using the practices
taught. Personal initiative training is a promising
alternative approach which uses insights
from psychology to develop a proactive,
entrepreneurial mindset. We tested this
approach in a World Bank project in Togo,
comparing it to traditional business training,
and followed firms for 7.5 years to test
whether impacts persist
Port Reform Toolkit
Get PDFPorts are undergoing constant transformation, induced by changes in the global economy,
technology, or the environment. Port reform is influenced by factors that include aspirations for
change underpinned by complex internal and external drivers. In a sector where public and private interests must work together, closely managing change is important. Having the right tools is key for a successful port reform and improvement process which enables economic growth, creates jobs, and fosters sustainable development. For over two decades, the Port Reform Toolkit has been one of the most comprehensive guides for implementing port reforms. Along the way, the Toolkit has evolved in response to changing sectoral trends. The first edition, published in 2001, established a common language for policymakers and port industry stakeholders. It has since become the established reference for port privatization,
labor, and modernization programs. Further experiences from a first wave of port reforms in
Latin America, Africa, and Asia in the 1990s and early 2000s informed the second edition of the
Toolkit, which was released in 2007. By that time, ports in developing economies had attracted over 21 billion dollars in investments from over 200 public-private partnership projects. In this context, the Port Reform Toolkit enabled port stakeholders to provide strategic advice to governments and the private sector
A Techno-Economic Assessment of Sustainable Aviation Fuels in Africa
Get PDFThis study explores the potential for producing sustainable aviation fuels (SAF) in four African
countries: Ethiopia, Kenya, Nigeria, and South Africa. Rather than serving as a full feasibility analysis or detailed project proposal, it uses a techno-economic approach to showcase Africa’s potential through examples from these countries. The analysis highlights strategies for cost reduction and risk management, with a focus on the higher selling prices of SAF in Africa, which are driven by elevated risk premiums and green premiums. By assessing feedstock availability, production technologies, and policy frameworks, the study provides actionable insights to accelerate SAF adoption in Africa. The aim is to bridge the cost gap with conventional fossil-based jet fuel, position Africa as an integral part of sustainable aviation value chain, and contribute significantly to reducing carbon emissions
A Tipping Point for Municipal and Industrial Use
Get PDFThis report advocates for scaling up investments in the treatment of used water to transform it into ‘new’ water suitable for municipal and industrial use. It presents a compelling business case and outlines actionable roadmaps for governments and the private sector to transition toward sustainable water use. These investments are essential for ensuring inclusive water service delivery, job creation, and economic development. The report emphasizes the public sector’s role in shaping markets to attract private sector participation - as users, solution providers, and financiers by setting and enforcing water-related regulations, designing financial incentives, and investing in infrastructure. It highlights the importance of creating enabling environments through market design, pricing strategies, and regulatory frameworks that support the development of a robust ‘new’ water economy. The document also underscores the need for collaboration between public and private sectors, and where appropriate, the World Bank Group, to drive this transformation. A central focus is on generating ‘new’ water for municipal systems and industrial users, which can significantly enhance water security, reduce environmental impact, and support sustainable development. By turning wastewater into a valuable resource, the report envisions a future where water reuse becomes a cornerstone of resilient and inclusive urban and industrial growth
A Guide to Nutrition Responsive Budgeting
Get PDFThis guide identifies what makes a PFM system responsive to nutrition needs, and what actions can be taken to develop a reform program in a capacity constrained context. Across the stages in the budgetcycle it identifies basic requirements that are necessary for a nutrition responsive PFM reform and develops advanced options that could be pursued if context appropriate. Following this guide will allow stakeholders to map priority interventions from strategic plans into the government budget, identify what interventions were approved in the budget, map out when budgets were released for these interventions and monitor spending and implementation. Together this creates the necessary foundation for matching spending data with outcome information to allow for evidence-based course correction. A nutrition responsive PFM reform leverages existing country systems at the margins to foster stewardship, oversight, and coordination, to strengthen the allocation and use of limited resources. At the same time this guide is designed to minimize disruptions to other ongoing reform efforts and avoid duplicating processes, or onerous data collection and reporting requirements
Greener, Resilient, More Inclusive, and Prosperous Urban Growth
Get PDFHow sustainable are Ghana’s cities? This Strategy measures sustainability along three
dimensions—the enabling Urban System, People & Economy, and Environment—each of which
has four building blocks. This approach is premised on the idea that city systems (infrastructure,
governance, institutions, etc.) must function well to deliver positive results for people, the
economy, and the environment. Over the long term, these positive results should contribute
towards more resilient, just, and competitive cities. The Strategy is underpinned by analytics that draw from Ghanaian data sources, such as the 2021 Population and Housing Census (PHC), the Ghana Living Standards Survey (GLSS), the District Performance Assessment Tool (DPAT), and national accounts, as well as from a significant body of research on urban issues by local academics and practitioners. Global data and studies were used to fill in knowledge gaps not covered by local data and research
Evidence from Antananarivo, Madagascar
Get PDFMany developing cities are facing rapid population growth and extreme climate events. This paper examines the link between job accessibility and climate vulnerability, using data from Antananarivo, Madagascar, which frequently experiences flooding. As in other countries, the analysis finds that men’s commutes are longer than women’s, who tend to walk to work or use public transport. Even after controlling for observables and the potential endogeneity bias associated with commute time, the findings show that climate vulnerability negatively impacts wages, as people avoid commuting long to work due to anticipated potential climate risks. Building climate resilience into urban transport is therefore essential. As predicted by theory, the evidence also shows that the value of commuting is positive, and walking is disadvantageous. Motorized commuting yields higher returns, which could lead to overuse of private cars and taxis, posing decarbonization challenges