From the Wall Street Consensus to the Sustainable Development Convention—The Multilevel Role of Development Banks

This article argues that achieving a green-sustainable transition (GST) requires a reconfiguration of the international financial architecture and places Development Financial Institutions (DFIs) at the center of this shift. It contends that the prevailing Wall Street Consensus anchored in market-based “de-risking” and short-term returns, cannot mobilize investment at the scale, horizon, and directionality needed to address intertwined climate, biodiversity, and social crises, especially in the Global South. As an alternative, the paper advances a Sustainable Development Convention in which the State actively coordinates expectations and capital allocation toward long-term public value. Within this framework, DFIs are not peripheral financiers but mission-oriented policy instruments that provide long-term funding, mitigate uncertainty, and enable structural transformation. The article emphasizes DFIs’ multilevel roles: multilateral development banks mobilize international resources and set standards; national development banks translate global commitments into sovereign investment strategies; and regional development banks operationalize GST through territorially embedded finance and local knowledge. Finally, the paper highlights regulatory change as a core pillar of the new architecture, including the integration of climate- and nature-related risks into prudential frameworks, rules that support long-term strategic lending, and governance and capitalization reforms that strengthen DFIs’ capacity to lead the transition.