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...

Governments play a critical role in the economies of Europe and Central Asia, where government expenditures are close to 40 percent of gross domestic product and the public sector accounts for nearly 27 percent of total employment, which is almost twice the global average. The public sector...

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 economic losses resulting from the environmental impacts considered in this report are equivalent to more than 4 percent o f Bangladesh's Gross Domestic Product. Among these impacts, three sources of environmental degradation stand out as currently receiving insufficient attention given...

The Kenya Country Environmental Analysis (CEA) presents recent findings and trends on key environmental challenges and opportunities. The CEA identifies a set of recommendations that are necessary to both strengthen the country's environmental management capabilities and ensure that...

This note documents the experience of several countries that leveraged these tools under the Financial Inclusion Support Framework (FISF) program. FISF is a World Bank Group initiative that aims to accelerate and increase the effectiveness of reforms and other country-led actions to achieve...

Digitalization is increasing rapidly worldwide, requiring more energy, and resulting in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. According to International Telecommunication Union (ITU) two thirds of the world's population are now online. Estimates of the internet and communication technology (ICT)...

As increasing the pace of productivity growth continues to be a strong challenge in Europe despite the continuous global technology developments, promoting the adoption and usage of digital technology has become more important than ever, particularly among micro, small, and medium enterprises...

The Twenty-sixth United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26) was held in early November 2021 in Glasgow, Scotland, at which Vietnam's Prime Minister, Pham Minh Chinh, pledged once again that Vietnam would be part of the global climate change solution. The country aims to increase the share...