Market-based sustainable finance initiatives led by members of the Sustainable Banking Network (SBN) have made significant progress in directing the financial sector toward sustainability.
... See More + The SBN Global Progress Report is based on a unique measurement framework, the first of its kind to assess sustainable finance initiatives across emerging markets. The regulatory environment supporting sustainability in Brazil is developed and ambitious, which is consistent with local circumstances, and with the country's involvement in global initiatives and commitments, such as the Earth Summit held in Rio de Janeiro in 1992 (the first major United Nations conference on sustainable development), and in 2012. Sustainable finance initiatives have stemmed from voluntary industry actors, government bodies, and regulators. As early as 1995, the Ministry of the Environment facilitated and supported the commitment of five state-owned banks to voluntary guidelines entitled Protocolo Verde (Green Protocol). The Brazilian Federation of Banks (FEBRABAN) , representing both state-owned and commercial banks, joined the initiative in 2009. In 2014, the Central Bank of Brazil launched die Resolution on Social and Environmental Responsibility, which applies to all financial institutions. FEBRABAN, the Federation of Brazilian Banks, also released a protocol on Social and Environmental Responsibility (SARB14) in 2014. With the support of central bank and banking association, Brazilian financial institutions (Fls) have been advancing environmental, social, and governance (ESG) risk management for almost a decade. To further advance the journey, the sustainable banking industry policy package could now help FIS by providing more practical guidance to assess their ESG risks and set up the appropriate governance of these risks in their organizations.
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The review presents an in-depth analysis of Ukraine's intellectual property system regarding its support to technology transfer and commercialization of publicly funded research and development.
... See More + The analysis attempts to identify regulatory and framework impediments for the commercialization of publicly funded research and recommends reforms and policies that could improve the framework conditions for intellectual property (IP) and technology transfer (TT). The analysis is based on available legal, regulatory, and policy documents and information from secondary resources as well as qualitative interviews with stakeholders. The review finds that academic and publicly funded research in Ukraine rarely reaches the market due to its inherently basic research orientation; its lack of relevance to local industry needs; low capacity and demand for research by the private sector; legal, institutional, and administrative hurdles; weak culture of research commercialization; and limited incentives for commercialization of research results. Moreover, technology transfer offices and intermediaries are yet to be affective in their research commercialization efforts. Against this backdrop, the report provides a list of policy recommendations along the institutional and normative frameworks. On the institutional level, the recommendations focus on disseminating coherent IP ownership policies across public research organizations (PROs) and funding agencies; developing and implementing IP policies at the institutional level; developing competent intermediary and bridging organizations; improving monitoring of publicly funded IP activities; in addition to other areas. On the normative framework level, the recommended reforms address publicly funded IP ownership legal rules and touch upon contingent legal acts beyond IP and TT regulations. Importantly, the report calls for reforms that provide better incentives for researchers at PROs to disclose inventions, collaborate with local and international private firms, and commercialize research.
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Preferential trade agreements have boomed in recent years and extended their reach well beyond tariff reduction, to cover policy areas such as investment, competition, and intellectual property rights.
... See More + This paper uses new information on the content of preferential trade agreements to examine the trade effects of deep agreements and revisit the classic Vinerian question of trade creation and trade diversion. The results indicate that deep agreements lead to more trade creation and less trade diversion than shallow agreements. Furthermore, some provisions of deep agreements have a public good aspect and increase trade also with non-members.
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Policy Research Working Paper WPS8206 SEP 27, 2017
The life nd Fire Safety (LFS) Good Practice Notes (GPNs) are technical reference documents developed for two main purposes: (i) to support IFC’s investment decisions when evaluating if life and fire safety objectives have been achieved and (ii) as a general guideline for the project team to develop a life and fire concept for the specific occupancy.This GPN on Hotels is a guideline for investment projects in both new and existing occupancies.
... See More + The GPN provides further guidance to section 3.3 of the World Bank Group General Environmental, Health, and Safety Guidelines, which are the core of IFC’s requirements on life and fire safety.
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The role of innovation in improving productivity might vary according to a country's relative position in technology advancement. Frontier countries might benefit more from policies that promote firms' internal innovation (create), while follower countries would gain more from policies favoring the adoption of existing technologies through innovation outsourcing (buy).
... See More + However, in many countries, the government policies to promote innovation narrowly focus on "creating," regardless of considerations of the level of a country's technological advancement. This paper investigates the effect of different sources of innovation on output via productivity with representative manufacturing firms in Tunisia from 1997 to 2007. It finds that "buying" has a positive effect on productivity whereas "creating" does not, which might imply that Tunisian firms do not invest sufficiently in "creating," or that "creating" is more difficult for Tunisian firms because they might be too far from the technology frontier. Meanwhile, there is no synergy from using both sources of innovation simultaneously –- a finding that counters literature suggesting that "creating" could enhance firms' absorptive capacity. The paper considers the possibility that "creating" and "buying" substitute for each other in Tunisia, where resources are limited, assuming the effect of innovation is not linear or requires a certain amount of investment (threshold) to positively affect productivity. The estimation result using the Tobit model supports this assumption. The findings suggest that innovation policy in Tunisia should emphasize adoption and adaptation, rather that creation and innovation. To encourage firms' "buying," the government can promote exports and workers' skills, whereas incentives that encourage firms to hire more technicians or to acquire foreign investment might not be efficient ways to encourage "buying." Moreover, the fact that there is a minimum requirement (threshold) for innovation investment suggests that policies that aim to reduce this threshold or support firms around this threshold could catalyze the innovation investment.
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Policy Research Working Paper WPS8121 JUN 27, 2017
Over the last decade, Ecuador experienced inclusive growth fueled by a favorable external environment that financed a vast expansion of the public sector.
... See More + The country is now facing severe external and fiscal challenges due to the significant extended fall in oil prices and the appreciation of the U.S. dollar. Since mid-2014, Ecuador has lost almost half of its merchandise export income due to the decline in oil prices. Oil revenues averaged 13.2 percent of GDP between 2011 and 2014 and one-third of total fiscal revenues. The fall in oil and other commodity prices on global markets has opened broad macroeconomic imbalances and exposed Ecuador's pre-existing vulnerabilities. As a fully dollarized economy with limited savings from the boom years, Ecuador cannot soften adjustment via a nominal depreciation or a drawdown of macroeconomic buffers. The strengthening of the U.S. dollar and the major currency depreciations in neighboring trading partners also place pressures on external competitiveness. Furthermore, access to foreign borrowing has become more limited. Consequently, the burden of the adjustment falls on fiscal and income policies.
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