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Paris Alignment and Climate Readiness Assessment
Multilateral development banks now assess new operations for alignment with the Paris Agreement. The World Bank has aligned all new operations since 1 July 2023, and IFC and MIGA reached all new operations from 1 July 2025. This assessment checks your project or pipeline against the joint MDB methodological principles: the mitigation test (BB1), the adaptation and resilience test (BB2), country climate strategies, greenhouse gas accounting and climate finance reporting. This is a real readiness tool: each question is drawn from the current official texts listed under "Based on", and Risalat's guideline monitor re-checks those sources every two weeks so the questions follow new editions.
- Assessment
- 12 min
- Free
- Saved in your browser
Who it is for
- Project preparation teams and PIUs seeking MDB or climate fund finance
- Ministries of finance, planning and environment
- Utilities, municipalities and state-owned enterprises
- Consultants preparing feasibility studies and concept notes
- Banks and funds preparing climate-related proposals
What you get
- A readiness score across six Paris alignment areas
- A view of mitigation and adaptation gaps a lender will raise
- Practical steps for climate risk screening and GHG accounting
- Links to the official MDB methodology
- Programmes that build the missing skills
Programmes that build these skills
Upcoming Risalat programmes matched to the areas this tool measures. Your results show which ones fit your weakest areas.
Questions
What does Paris alignment mean for a project?
The lender checks that the operation is consistent with the Paris Agreement goals: it should not lock in high-carbon assets and it should manage physical climate risks. The joint MDB principles call these the mitigation and adaptation building blocks.
Which lenders use the joint MDB principles?
The World Bank Group and the other major MDBs that signed the joint approach, such as ADB, AfDB, AIIB, EBRD, EIB and IDB, each apply them through their own procedures.
Is a climate risk screening the same as an ESIA?
No. Screening focuses on climate hazards and the project's exposure to them. Its findings should feed into the environmental and social assessment and the design.
Do small projects need GHG accounting?
Lenders usually set thresholds for full accounting, but an estimate of the main emission sources helps you pass the mitigation test and prepare climate finance proposals.
Based on
- Joint MDB Paris Alignment Approach World Bank page on the joint methodological principles for direct, policy-based, intermediated and corporate finance.
- Joint MDB Paris alignment: universally aligned and not aligned activity lists Joint MDB publication, 2023.
- What you need to know about World Bank Group alignment with the Paris Agreement World Bank, 10 July 2023. IBRD/IDA 100% from 1 July 2023; IFC and MIGA 100% from 1 July 2025.
- The World Bank Group and Paris Alignment World Bank Group.
This is a self-assessment and training tool, not a lender's official alignment assessment. Each MDB applies the joint principles through its own procedures, so confirm requirements with the lender for your operation.