Revista Tempo do Mundo (Dec 2022)

THE NEW DEVELOPMENT BANK (NDB) AS A MISSION-ORIENTED INSTITUTION FOR JUST ECOLOGICAL TRANSITIONS: A CASE STUDY APPROACH TO BRICS SUSTAINABLE INFRASTRUCTURE INVESTMENT

  • João Pedro Braga,
  • Bruno de Conti,
  • Guilherme Magacho

DOI
https://doi.org/10.38116/rtm29art5
Journal volume & issue
no. 29
pp. 139 – 164

Abstract

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The New Development Bank (NDB) has not yet received the attention it deserves in the development community. On the one hand, this lack of attention could be partially explained by its short existence. On the other hand, in its first five years of operations, the bank consolidated as a source of development finance in the bloc by claiming originality from the traditional multilateral development bank (MDB) business model. In this sense, the research gap on the bank points to a miscommunication between the NDB’s claims of originality and its engagement with the extended development community. Addressing the “new in the NDB” to consolidate it as a full member of the community, this paper analyses the bank’s very first operations to understand the possibilities of the NDB to position itself as a mission-oriented institution to finance the ecological transition in the BRICS countries by partnering up with local actors and institutions committed to public value. To understand these opportunities, this paper sheds light on five selected NDB projects and their engagement with the local sustainable development agendas. Studied together, the case studies provide important lessons on the bank’s approach to achieve its newness, but do not pretend to evaluate the whole of its first five years of operations – which should be tackled by further research. The paper concludes by suggesting a mission roadmap for the bank to consider in its corporate strategy. This implies a perspective shift from its current narrow focus on sustainable infrastructure investment by partnering up with local actors of the extended BRICS development community. For that matter, a shared commitment to strong sustainability and public value is required when connecting the bank’s operations with the country-specific challenges for the ecological transition.

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