Browning the bank: The World Bankʹs growing investment in urban environmental management

The World Bank began financing urban development projects in 1972; it has tackled specific aspects of the brown agenda1 through sectoral lending for a longer period of time. However, in recent years, there has been a conscious effort to enhance urban environmental quality by integrating sectoral interventions and linking them to urban development activities. By 1995, 55 projects that exclusively focus on the brown agenda were being implemented, totaling over $6 billion in Bank loans and credits. Urban environment and pollution management projects now account for over 60% of the Bankʹs lending for the environment (World Bank 1995). What has led to this dramatic increase in the depth and breadth of the Bankʹs involvement with the brown agenda?