Multilateral Development Banks and Sustainable Development: On Emulation, Fragmentation and a Common Law of Sustainable Development

Abstract

Multilateral Development Banks (hereinafter MDBs) have evolved from avoiding non-economic considerations, as required in most of their charters, to officially supporting sustainable development. This transformation is due not only to international law, civil society pressure or internal adjustments, but in part to the emulation phenomenon between the international effort for sustainable development made by international conferences and commissions and the sustainable development effort by MDBs. The paper first examines this emulation phenomenon and its strong impact on MDB creation of substantive instruments – the environmental and social safeguards – and of procedural instruments – the accountability mechanisms – for the integration of sustainable development. Following this discussion, the second part points out that MDBs’ environmental and social safeguards still differ substantially, revealing a fragmentation in MDBs’ normative understanding of sustainable development. After presenting the arguments supporting this fragmentation, the last part of the paper argues in favor of the harmonization of MDBs’ environmental and social safeguards, resulting in the creation of a common law of sustainable development, the promotion of international law and the facilitation of investments.

The Routledge Handbook on Extraterritorial Human Rights Obligations

“…The safeguards vary in each IFIs, but some topics are commonly covered throughout the MDBs. Each has provisions on at least certain aspects of biodiversity and natural resources; pollution; community health, safety and security; occupational health and safety; climate change; cultural resources and heritage; indigenous peoples; land acquisition, resettlement or gender (Himberg 2015;Mbengue and de Moerloose 2017). However, these topics are dealt with differently, which marks a disparity between MDBs on the extent to which they adhere to human rights standards.…”

(Un)Sustainable Development(s) in International Economic Law: A Quest for Sustainability

“…As to contemporary scholarly approaches to, and definitions of, sustainable development, they have been continuously changing over the last 30 years. Acknowledging this, to date there is a large and burgeoning literature on sustainable development in law (e.g., [24][25][26][27][28]) and other social sciences (e.g., [29][30][31][32][33]). One of such latest scholarly advances on the subject matter calls "to create and maintain conditions, under which humans and nature can exist in productive harmony, that permit fulfilling the social, economic, and environmental requirements of present and future generations (my emphasis)" [34].…”

“…It is true that, while from a point of view of neo-classical economics achieving sustainable development means liberalizing trade and investment in order to facilitate the access of goods and services to foreign markets, and to stimulate foreign investment flows and subsequent growth, in development and human rights circles sustainable development stands for environmental sustainability, human rights protection and gender equality, as well as equitable development in order to reduce poverty, improve global health, and promote peace [35] (pp. [24][25].…”

“…There is also an expanding strand of the environmental and sustainability scholarship, including the so-called future studies [25,139,140] who speak, among others, about re-imposing the external bio-spherical limits on our economic activities, industrial growth, and scientific progress. A particular fraction of the future studies, the radical Green thought, calls for a transition to a low-carbon economy of sharing, "in which the goal of growth is displaced by the values of social justice and the ethics of collaboration, thus liberating humanity from the yoke of 'economism'" [134] (p. 127).…”

Sharia Banking Towards Sustainable Finance in Palm Oil Industry

“…Laurence (2017) states that "it is important for Multilateral Development Banks (MDBs) to support the goals of the new global climate financial architecture" (p. 73). The Asian Development Bank (ADB) must review the policy architecture, strengthen accounting procedures, and coordinate efforts with other relevant parties Mbengue and Moerloose (2017). indicate that "the MDBs have evolved from avoiding non-economic considerations, as required in most of their charters, to officially supporting sustainable development" (p. 389).…”