We focus our efforts on banks that shape international environmental and social policies and norms for finance, trade, and investment because these institutions set the conditions for public and private sector investment. Our current research, analysis, and engagement strategies target a subset of international financial institutions, including:

• Multilateral Development Banks (MDBs),
• Private “Equator Principle” Financial Institutions (EPFIs) that have agreed to apply environmental and social safeguards to project finance, and
• Export Credit and Guarantee Agencies (ECAs).

The MDBs are particularly important given their mandates to support sustainable development and poverty reduction in the developing world, and their influence on investments that are central to achieving millennium development goals such as access to water and electricity.

Our engagement and outreach strategies are undertaken in close partnership with WRI board members, including WRI Chairman and former president of the US Ex-Im Bank, James Harmon.