In Search of Green Capitalism: The World Bank and the Political-Ideological
Construction of Sustainable Development (1992–2010)
World Bank; poverty reduction; environment and development; neoliberalism.
This study aims to analyze the notion of sustainable development within the World
Bank’s environmental policy agenda between 1992 and 2010, while also considering the
political formulations that shaped environmental debates during this period. It seeks to
understand the process through which the World Bank diversified its agenda and
incorporated sustainable development as a central issue in its policies directed toward
member countries. The main sources used are the World Development Reports from
1992 and 2010, both dedicated to the relationship between environment and
development. The study assumes that the World Bank played a leading role in
international cooperation for capitalist development and was present in key arenas that
consolidated the dominant environmental debate, grounded in an economic and market-
oriented conception of nature. Thus, it argues that the socio-environmental, political,
and economic dimensions involved are essential for understanding the environmental
discourse constructed by the institution. Accordingly, the analysis contextualizes the
aforementioned reports within the historical conjunctures in which they were produced,
comparing their ideas, foundations, and main proposals through a critical bibliography
on environmental issues.