Rep. Gwen Moore (D-Wis.) says Flint's lessons are "global."

Beyond its own projects, the Bank could be a game changer by working with governments to ensure they have strong environmental standards and climate friendly investments, and the current review process it is undertaking is just the right opportunity to go in this direction.

Following decades of detrimental overseas coal project financing by MDB, there has been meaningful progress made to secure new policies at MDBs to limit this type of financing. But despite this progress, there are some entrenched interests that refuse to get with the times.

A massive 62 percent of IFC lending now goes not directly to development projects but to third parties. These financial intermediaries then invest in projects like dams, plantations, power plants, or into small and medium enterprises.

Investment in beyond-the-grid clean energy has been growing steadily, albeit with the world's foremost development institution, the World Bank, missing in action.