The Paris Agreement introduced a bottom-up approach for addressing climate change by enabling countries to pledge individual commitments through nationally determined contributions (NDCs). Furthermore, Article 6 of the Paris Agreement recognizes that Parties may engage in bilateral cooperative...

This report explores priorities and challenges faced by Georgia to promote green transition and support its businesses to reduce their emissions through energy efficiency. The report stresses the need for improved incentives and opportunities for business investments in energy efficiency and...

The growth and impacts of plastic pollution have emerged as a major environmental challenge globally. Plastic pollution has a wide range of impacts on public health, ecosystems, biodiversity, and economies and can occur during each stage of the plastic lifecycle, from extraction of raw...

This handbook has been developed to provide instruction on the design and implementation of incentives for resource-efficiency purposes. The target audience is World Bank staff and stakeholders who are supporting the implementation of a resource-efficiency program in a country on behalf of the...

In 2001, FYR Macedonia embarked on a new education policy agenda. One of the goals of this agenda was to improve the country's student assessment system. In order to gain a better understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of its existing assessment system, FYR Macedonia decided to benchmark...

By 2050, two-thirds of the planet's population will live in urban centers, and nearly 90 percentof the 2.5 billion new urban dwellers will live in Africa and Asia. The world's urban areas wereresponsible for around 70 percent of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in 2013, and that numbercould grow...

The forest cover in Pakistan is low. The latest forest assessment from 2011 estimates 4.47 million ha of total forest area in the country, or 5.1 percent of the total land area (Bukhari, Laeeq, and Ali 2012). Distribution of forests varies by province and other administrative area; it is highest...

With the Paris Agreement and most of its detailed rulebook now finalized, countries and subnational actors face the challenge of translating climate targets and strategies into action and determining how to finance these actions. Through the Pilot Auction Facility for Methane and Climate Change...

This policy note was prepared in parallel to the report Pakistan at 100, Shaping the Future. The report Pakistan at 100 discusses options to accelerate and sustain growth in Pakistan so that the country becomes an upper middle-income country when it turns 100 years old in 2047. This policy note...

The Western Balkans is home to the most polluting power plants in Europe, and its transport and energy infrastructure require updates. Not surprisingly, countries such as Kosovo, are suffering from severe urban air pollution and traffic congestion as a result of high dependence on fossil fuels...