Presentation short abstract

This paper examines how different types of environmental knowledge is contested within Development Economics Vice President (DEC) in the World Bank. Drawing on interviews and document analysis it shows how certain knowledge forms are prioritised in shaping environmental governance and policies.

Presentation long abstract

This paper investigates how environmental knowledge contestation unfolds within the World Bank’s Development Economics Vice Presidency (DEC), the institution’s main research agency and epistemic community. One of the most important parts of the Bank for understanding knowledge production and use in its policymaking process is epistemic communities. These are networks of knowledge-based experts from various disciplines, including natural and social sciences, recognised for their expertise in specific policy-related issues (Haas, 1992). By engaging with debates on knowledge types and their uses, the analysis highlights how disciplinary expertise from economics, natural sciences, and social sciences contest and converges in shaping environmental governance. DEC plays a central role in steering the Bank’s strategy, translating complex issues—particularly environmental concerns—into standardised forms of data and expertise that can be measured, aggregated, and analysed. This process not only determines which problems are accepted policy-relevant but also privileges certain forms of knowledge while marginalising others. This paper adopts a qualitative research design and data collection included 16 semi-structured elite interviews and reviews of different types of World Bank documents. The collected data was analysed thematically. The paper argues that understanding how knowledge is produced, disseminated, and selectively used within DEC is crucial for grasping the Bank’s environmental policymaking practices and its global influence.