MultiLaterAL Investment GUarantee Agency (MIGA) Campaign

MIGA and its Significant Impact on Climate Change

 MIGA, an arm of the World Bank Group (WBG), provides risk insurance in the form of “guarantees” to lenders and investors against potential losses caused by risks in a country where their investment is located. These guarantees, which are non-commercial political risk insurance instruments covering everything from restrictions on currency conversions and transfers, expropriation, breach of contract, and civil disturbances and war, are critical to financing of  development projects in Global South countries. Without this de-risking insurance, private sector investors will most likely avoid financing renewable energy and most fossil fuel projects in these regions. This is because guarantees take on the risk of investment by covering losses that investors would otherwise incur. 

MIGA guarantees continue to enable natural gas plants, LNG projects, and fossil fuel investments in the Global South, while falling short of the guarantees needed to expedite the shift to renewable energy infrastructure.  Further, BCA's groundbreaking data unveils that MIGA is systematically failing to adhere to its own GHG emissions quantification, alternatives analysis, mitigation/avoidance, and disclosure requirements, and its obligations under international law to asses and prevent climate change harms, before issuing each guarantee. All of this this is especially consequential for climate change considering that in February 2024, WBG President Ajay Banga announced a significant overhaul of WBG’s guarantee operations to make it easier for the private sector to access guarantee solutions for their investments, supposedly to focus on climate action and renewable energy. The WBG's Evolution Roadmap also points to expansion of  MIGA guarantees, providing that they are needed “to catalyze more private investment, including equity investment, to address both country priorities and global challenges.”  Without the MIGA reform BCA strives to achieve in MIGA's climate change policies and practices, MIGA will not align its guarantees with the 1.5°C warming limitation objective, and will continue to enable fossil fuel projects instead of feasible renewable energy infrastructure.

As such, BCA and civil society organizations (CSOs) from the Global South and North have taken action! In February 2025, BCA submitted a Request asking MIGA to adhere to its climate change policies and to strengthen them  on behalf of 19 CSOs (click for Request). The Request (1) documents MIGA's systematic failures to adhere to its board adopted policies applicable to climate change across 60 direct, financial intermediary, and trade finance investments; (2) asks MIGA to adhere to its accountability mechanism's interpretation of MIGA's board adopted policy requirements applicable to climate change and MIGA's additional policy requirements; and (3) to improve its climate change policies and their implementation to come into alignment with MIGA's and its shareholders' obligations under international law.

Click here for: The World Bank launched a one-stop guarantee shop. Here’s how it’s going. In a bid to increase private capital flows to the countries where it works the World Bank Group is streamlining and scaling its guarantee business.  November 26, 2024, Adva Saldinger, Devex,

(web version here)

Jason Weiner, Executive & Legal Director, Bank Climate Advocates, World Bank 2024 Annual Board Meetings Civil Society Policy Forum Session: The Importance of MIGA: New Guarantee Platform and World Bank Evolution Roadmap  (October 23, 2024, Washington D.C., USA) 

View Recorded Livestream Here (Day 2 Tab - Third  Video Down)

View Powerpoint Presentation Here