This Sustainable Energy and Economic Network on-line database is an attempt to clear the air, to document exactly what the World Bank Group, and other international financial institutions (IFIs), support. As you can see on the database maps, these institutions support hundreds upon hundreds of projects, from Albania to Zimbabwe, that open up fossil fuel fields and mines, ship these fuels to Western consumers, and build massive power plants that burn coal, oil and gas. On our maps, scattered among the symbols of derricks, power plants and pipelines, you will find a handful of green dots -- the handful of energy efficiency and renewable energy projects that these agencies have backed over the past decade.

SEEN, a project of the Institute for Policy Studies (Washington, DC) and the Transnational Institute (Amsterdam), works in partnership with citizens groups nationally and globally on environment, human rights and development issues with a particular focus on energy, climate change, environmental justice, gender equity, and economic issues, particularly as these play out in North/South relations. The actions of IFIs lie at the nexxus of these vital issues.

Cataloging these powerful institutions' money trails, we believe, is an essential tool in understanding how far they have gone in one direction -- the failed old-school model that equates resource extraction with poverty alleviation -- and how far they still have to go toward assisting true global security. Fossil fuels, according to the prevailing economic order, are an essential building block to development. From the coal mines of India to the oil fields of Nigeria to the atmosphere, we have learned quite the opposite: fossil fuel extraction, at its essence, is an extraordinarily destabilizing practice. The world's poor are uprooted from their ancestral homes. Autocratic elites, and foreign corporations, may be enriched, but the trickle of wealth rarely reaches the powerless. Stratification breeds discontent that can turn violent. And the end result of burning all of this fuel -- carbon dioxide emissions -- is destabilizing the earth's climate.

Our database follows previous SEEN reports that covered World Bank financing from 1992 to 1997, and from 1997 to 1998. We have also reported on the fossil fuel finances of other institutions, including U.S. institutions (Overseas Private Investment Corporation and Export-Import Bank) and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development. These publications are available at http://www.seen.org/pages/reports.shtml.

This initial version of the database focuses on the World Bank Group. You will also find a growing number of entries for the U.S. agencies, which will be completed in coming weeks. The database is updated routinely, so check back often to find out about these institutions’ activities.

In the process of developing this resource, a team of researchers have combed through international financial institutions’ annual reports, on-line databases, and other publications, to discern exactly what is being financed either for or against the worldwide proliferation of fossil fuels. For many database records, this information is supplemented with information from other sources, including news articles, corporate reports, and non-governmental organizations.

This exhaustive effort, coordinated by SEEN director Daphne Wysham and Research Director Jim Vallette, has been made possible by our funders.

Current staff, including research associate Nadia Martinez and research director Jim Vallette, continuously monitor World Bank and other IFI activities, and update the database accordingly. Former SEEN staffer Christine Bustany provided essential help in the development stage. Website design done by Steve Lyons of StevenLyons Studio. Database development by Asha Technologies, David Soergel.

Finally, we urge all users to provide us with any additional information that you feel would be useful, to make this a truly interactive database. For example, if your organization has a website or other resource that furthers understanding of the true nature of a given project, please pass that along. Please drop us a line with any feedback, information, or clarification, and help to make this a truly interactive database.