At a Tuesday fireside chat, World Bank Group President Ajay Banga emphasized the importance of funding sustainable development initiatives that harness the potential of women and young people in order to advance economic and environmental goals.

Arun Majumdar, the inaugural dean of the Doerr School of Sustainability, and Peter Blair Henry, a Class of 1984 Hoover Institution senior fellow, moderated the discussion. Hoover Director Condoleezza Rice delivered introductory remarks in the event co-sponsored by the two institutions.

Banga stressed the need to empower women and young people with economic opportunity for the sake of global prosperity.

“If [we] can unlock that opportunity and give [women and young people] the right and the dignity of having a job, then [we] can create a productive growth model for the world for many years to come,” said Banga, who was the president and CEO of MasterCard before becoming the 14th president of the World Bank. 

Women in developing economies face extreme challenges in securing the right to work. Meanwhile, the labor market is predicted to generate less than half a billion jobs for over 1.2 billion young people who will become working age adults over the next decade in the Global South. 

This renewed focus on bridging the gap between today’s reality and tomorrow’s opportunity is part of Banga’s strategy to redefine the bank’s mission “to create a world free of poverty on a livable planet,” according to a statement from its 2023 annual meetings in Marrakech, Morocco. 

Banga called for the World Bank and its partners to rethink their approach to global poverty. “Dealing only with poverty or the spreading of prosperity is inadequate… unless you understand that it is impacted deeply by climate change, by fragility, conflict and violence,” he said. 

In pursuit of this objective, Banga has divided the World Bank’s areas of expertise and resources into five strategic verticals: people, prosperity, planet, infrastructure and digital, with a focus on global development challenges including pandemic prevention and energy access. 

“Everyone thinks of us as a money bank… but what we actually are is a knowledge bank,” Banga said. “What we really bring to countries is expertise and knowledge and everything ranging from jobs and water and infrastructure.” 

Addressing the World Bank’s work on combating climate change, Banga highlighted the benefits and enduring challenges of the Paris Agreement. Despite amplifying engagement on environmental issues, he said the international treaty has failed to level the obstacles for emerging economies seeking to deploy solar and wind power on a broad scale, implement renewable energy transition plans and address methane emissions. 

Banga also asserted the importance of carbon capture to absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. “We have to move this debate into science and not into emotion right now,” said Banga, in reference to the counter-argument that the technology allegedly minimizes fossil fuel companies’ responsibility to decrease emissions. “Science will tell you we are going to need to be firing all bullets in our gun if [we’re] going to get this right for our children.” 

The World Bank Private Sector Lab diverts private capital from developed markets to publicly finance infrastructure projects in emerging markets. Banga highlighted the absence of clarity on regulatory tariff policy as a barrier to this work. “It’s going to [take] determination… philanthropic money and our own reserves to take certain risks that we have not taken in the past,” he said.

Students who attended the talk said they felt empowered to explore sustainable solutions in their academic and research pursuits. 

“It was very inspiring to see a leader that is results-driven, explaining how we should consider input before output when assessing sustainable solutions,” said Mafer Valesquez ’27, who was surprised to learn that Banga believes there is a lack of opportunities, rather than a lack of talent, in developing countries. “Coming from Latin America, it was moving to know that it is in our hands to create those opportunities and push sustainable solutions in our countries’ agendas.” 

Other students were drawn to Banga’s reimagining of the World Bank. “I was inspired by Mr. Banga’s conception of the World Bank as not just a lender of financial capital but a ‘knowledge bank’ for the nations of the world to tap into,” Rushank Goyal ’27 said. 

Banga affirmed the need to develop partnerships between the World Bank and universities like Stanford to predict the likelihood of fragility, conflict and violence in developing countries and to help the over one hundred million individuals living with refugee status globally.

“If you start using the data to create algorithms and indices, that could help [put] energy to work into countries five years before they get [funding],” he said. “Even in the event of [successfully helping] two out of 10 [countries], you change the world for those two.”