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We held the first of our two-day Impact House event on the sidelines of the World Bank-International Monetary Fund annual meetings. We bring you EIB President Nadia Calviño, IOM’s Amy Pope, and U.S. Rep. French Hill.
Also in today’s edition: Inside information on the World Bank’s involvement with Brazil’s flagship forest funding initiative.
Financing with impact
The European Investment Bank is going big. President Nadia Calviño used her debut at the World Bank and IMF annual meetings to unveil the bank’s latest global strategy — a push to raise annual financing and sharpen its focus on impact.
“Our aim is to increase our annual financing up to €10 billion and to be more focused and impact-oriented,” Calviño told our President and Editor-in-Chief Raj Kumar at a Devex Impact House @ World Bank-IMF event. Ukraine is “right now our top priority,” with €4 billion already mobilized, while other regions will see “a more targeted, differentiated approach.”
The expansion comes as the bank moves into defense and security for the first time. But Calviño was clear: “It is not only the right thing to do, it is also the smart thing to do … It is in our interest that these countries prosper, that they grow, that they are stable, stable economies, stable societies.”
Partnerships will be key, from working with Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance and the Gates Foundation on vaccine production in Africa to using the Global Emerging Markets Database with the World Bank. “The likelihood of default and the likelihood of losses is lower than one would just anticipate based on prejudice,” she said.
Calviño called EIB’s position “quite unique” with unanimous EU backing, a €600 billion balance sheet, and AAA rating. “The proof is in the pudding,” she added, pointing to recent unanimous support for both the Climate Bank Roadmap and the new global strategy.
And on whether multilateralism is faltering? She pushed back: “Multilateralism has enabled the world to make immense progress … I don’t think the world is interested in reducing this multilateral approach.”
Read: EIB launches €10B plan with Calviño stressing global partnerships
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Forest home
The World Bank will decide on Oct. 21 whether to host the Tropical Forest Forever Facility, or TFFF, as secretariat and trustee, according to a document seen by my colleague Jesse Chase-Lubitz. Experts say the move would give the Brazil-led fund, which will be a flagship initiative at the U.N. COP30 climate conference next month, crucial legitimacy.
TFFF is designed to provide long-term, predictable financing for conserving tropical forests through performance-based payments, leveraging both public and private capital. The U.K., Norway, and Germany are expected to make initial investments by Nov. 6.
The bank has not confirmed its role. “The WBG has provided advice to the TFFF initiative, which is developed and led by Brazil and other country partners,” a spokesperson tells Jesse. “Our specific role with the TFFF is still under review, which includes approval by our board.”
World Bank President Ajay Banga has already voiced support, calling the idea “bold” at a U.N. General Assembly event last month and praising Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s “persistence and vision.” He added: “Forests are economic infrastructure.” Expectations are high that it will be approved.
If so, the bank will host the facility for an initial three years and handle its funds, as it already does with the Global Environment Facility. The fund aims for $25 billion in sponsor capital and up to $4 billion in annual payouts for forested countries.
Still, concerns remain. Germanwatch’s Julia Grimm warns: “The danger is TFFF investments could count towards the [new collective quantified goal] and artificially inflate the NCQG … We do not know yet where there will be loopholes … that might directly or indirectly harm climate, biodiversity or human rights.”
Scoop: World Bank poised to host Brazil's $125B forest facility
Background: Brazil’s forest finance plan takes shape ahead of COP30
Spare change
Alexia Latortue, former U.S. Treasury lead on the World Bank, said recent reforms at the bank and other multilateral development institutions prove that “when there is a coalition of the willing, engaging robustly with management of these institutions, change is possible even in large bureaucracy.”
During a Devex Impact House panel with Senior Reporter Adva Saldinger, she pointed to progress on treating climate and development as “intertwined goals,” updating operational models to better respond to crises, and stretching the balance sheets. “We saw significant amounts of dollars being unlocked without new taxpayer contributions,” she said.
But Latortue warned that momentum is fading. “I have to be frank, I think it’s a really tough environment. I think a lot of the momentum has stalled,” she said, adding that the institutions face a “relevance challenge,” particularly in middle-income countries where “knowledge, for example, is as important as financing.”
Looking ahead, Latortue said she is helping launch a development cooperation coalition for “true co-creation … All countries around a new table to actually reaffirm and restate: What is the purpose of development? What is the destination? What does success look like?”
Read: Ex-Treasury’s Latortue urges bold World Bank reforms for relevance
+ Catch up on daily updates of on-the-ground and behind-the-scenes reporting from the World Bank-IMF annual meetings with our reporters’ notebook.
America First abroad
U.S. Rep. French Hill, a Republican from Arkansas and chair of the House Financial Services Committee, said multilateral banks are finally “listening” to Trump’s “America First” vision. “The U.S. is a good partner,” he told Raj at a Devex Impact House event. What he wants is “actual development” and “actual results,” not what he called “mission creep.”
Hill argued the World Bank should handle supply chains and agriculture, while the IMF should stick to “macroeconomic balance … and not try to be converted into a climate fund,” he said. “That’s not the mission of the organization.”
He also blasted the “full abandonment of any energy production … unless it was purely renewable,” but praised Ajay Banga’s “all-of-the-above” energy strategy. “People talk about sustainable development. What about actual development?” he said.
On U.S. leadership, Hill was clear: “America First does not mean America alone.” He insisted the U.S. must keep its World Bank and IMF shareholding. “American leadership in the multilateral [institutions] is the only way we will get the reforms we’re talking about.”
Read: The US ‘is here to be your partner’ on development goals, says Rep. French Hill
Rethinking migration’s future
It’s been a grim year for the United Nations, especially for agencies like the International Organization for Migration. Its American director-general, Amy Pope, has overseen thousands of layoffs after the Trump administration slashed foreign aid. “It is not fun to have to downsize,” she told Raj at an Impact House event. “There are real people who dedicated their entire career to our organization who suddenly found themselves without a job.”
Pope said the “shock to the organization” has forced IOM — and the world — to rethink a broken migration system. “The way that migration works now doesn't really work,” she said. “It's not good for countries, it's not good for communities, and it's not good for migrants.” Her vision: Use “migration as a catalyst for development, to engage the diaspora, to engage the private sector … they can be part of revitalizing an aging society, they can be part of driving innovation and creativity.”
She pointed to projects in Cape Verde and Somalia, and to the role of AI in predicting crises before they drive mass displacement. And while she won’t predict U.S. policy, Pope stressed IOM’s adaptability: “The good thing about IOM is that we can be quite responsive as that policy develops,” she said. “My hope is that this process, the funding cuts, what's happening globally, actually drives new ways of thinking.”
Read: The migration system doesn’t work, says Amy Pope
In other news
The Trump administration is reportedly looking to overhaul the U.S. refugee resettlement program to give preference to “English speakers, white South Africans and Europeans who oppose migration.” [New York Times]
Australian tropical forests were the first in the world to transform from being a carbon sink to become an emissions source because of global warming. [The Guardian]
Médecins Sans Frontières has permanently shuttered its emergency care center in Haiti’s capital, Port-au-Prince, due to ongoing gang violence. [Euronews]
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About the author
Helen Murphy
Helen is an award-winning journalist and Senior Editor at Devex, where she edits coverage on global development in the Americas. Based in Colombia, she previously covered war, politics, financial markets, and general news for Reuters, where she headed the bureau, and for Bloomberg in Colombia and Argentina, where she witnessed the financial meltdown. She started her career in London as a reporter for Euromoney Publications before moving to Hong Kong to work for a daily newspaper.
