“Clearly, the IFC should improve transparency and ensure its loans do not put poor people at risk of land grabs.”Kris Genovese, senior attorney at the Center for International Environmental Law in Washington D.C. said: “The IFC’s response to these alarming findings is shameful and only succeeds in missing the point. The fact that many projects technically meet IFC policies ignores the finding that the policies themselves are fundamentally and fatally flawed. A serious response from the IFC would have included a commitment to review its approach to lending to the financial market. It is time for the IFC to acknowledge that it must ensure that the results of its lending respect human rights and protect the environment.” “World Bank President Kim has committed that the safeguard policies will not be diluted during the Bank’s ongoing policy review,” said Stephanie Fried, Executive Director of the Ulu Foundation. “The CAO audit shows that the World Bank must not adopt the IFC model, which would result in a substantial dilution. Spreading the IFC culture of client self-monitoring, self-assessment and astonishing lack of oversight to the World Bank would leave communities and the environment vulnerable to harm.” “The CAO audit also indicates that contrary to IFC’s assertions of global leadership in sustainability, its policies are not industry best practice. Just because IFC’s policies are widely adopted doesn’t mean that they are the best,” said Doug Norlen, Policy Director of Pacific Environment. “The U.S. Overseas Private Investment Corporation and the Asian Development Bank have closed some of the loopholes in financial intermediary policies that IFC still uses and abuses. IFC’s claim to global leadership is taking a self-inflicted beating.”
Contact Information Doug Norlen, Pacific Environment, dnorlen@pacificenvironment.org / +1.202.465.1650 Lucy Brinicombe, Oxfam, London, UK, lbrinicombe@oxfam.org.uk / +44 (0)7786 110054 Peter Chowla, Bretton Woods Project, London, UK, pchowla@brettonwoodsproject.org / +44 203 122 0547 Kris Genovese, Center for International Environmental Law, Amsterdam, Netherlands, kgenovese@ciel.org / +31 65 277 3272 Stephanie Fried, ‘Ulu Foundation, Ulu Foundation, USA, stephanie@ulufoundation.org / +1 202 559 0722 Notes to editors • The CAO is the independent accountability mechanism for the World Bank’s private sector lending arm. • The CAO audit, along with the IFC response is available at: http://www.cao-ombudsman.org/newsroom/index.html • The International Finance Corporation is one of the arms of the World Bank Group, headquartered in Washington DC. It lends to or invests in private companies. In its most recent fiscal year, it commitment to more than $15 billion worth of investments and loans in developing countries. • The 40% figure of the portfolio includes investments in financial markets, private equity funds and trade finance combined. Figures from IFC Annual Report 2012. • The World Bank has recently launched a review of its social and environmental safeguards and has been considering using the IFC as a model for the World Bank’s revised safeguards. • For further information please see the media briefing enclosed.
