Law Review Articles and Comments

Two major law review articles and a law review comment address 1. the role of the World Bank in climate-friendly energy investment for poverty alleviation; 2. the initial evolution in the 1980s of an international framework for environmental assessment in development lending. Inter alia, a leitmotif is the chronic institutional problem in multilateral development banks of the "pressure to lend" diluting the environmental and social quality of lending projects.

As the World Burns: A Critique of the World Bank Group's Energy Strategy

As the World Burns: A Critique of the World Bank Group's Energy Strategy

This article appeared in late 2013, and the World Bank Group has made progress in adopting some of the article's recommendations, namely commitments to end financing of coal power plants and an end to financing of fossil fuel development, including oil and gas. Nevertheless many of the problems identified in the article still persist, particularly the so-cal...

As the World Burns: A Critique of the World Bank Group's Energy Strategy

This article appeared in late 2013, and the World Bank Group has made progress in adopting some of the article's recommendations, namely commitments to end financing of coal power plants and an end to financing of fossil fuel development, including oil and gas. Nevertheless many of the problems identified in the article still persist, particularly the so-cal...

The Multilateral Develoment Banks, Environmental Policy, and the United States

The Multilateral Develoment Banks, Environmental Policy, and the United States

This was the lead article in the "Special Issue: Environmental Law and Policy in Developing Countries" of the University of California, Berkeley, Boalt Hall Law School Ecology Law Quarterly. A seminal analysis, it identified the disconnect between U.S. domestic environmental legislation, and the growth of environmental rules and procedures for U.S. bilater...

The Multilateral Develoment Banks, Environmental Policy, and the United States

This was the lead article in the "Special Issue: Environmental Law and Policy in Developing Countries" of the University of California, Berkeley, Boalt Hall Law School Ecology Law Quarterly. A seminal analysis, it identified the disconnect between U.S. domestic environmental legislation, and the growth of environmental rules and procedures for U.S. bilater...

Response to Jerome Levinson [former Chief Counsel, Inter-American Development Bank}

Response to Jerome Levinson [former Chief Counsel, Inter-American Development Bank}

I agree with Jerome Levinson that, in theory, there exists a structural hierarchy of accountability [in multilateral development banks]. However, I disagree with the notion that this hierarchy of accountability works well in practice.

Response to Jerome Levinson [former Chief Counsel, Inter-American Development Bank}

I agree with Jerome Levinson that, in theory, there exists a structural hierarchy of accountability [in multilateral development banks]. However, I disagree with the notion that this hierarchy of accountability works well in practice.