IFC takes important step to cut support for coal

The International Finance Corporation, the World Bank’s private lending arm, today announced it will require new financial intermediary clients to publicly disclose their links to coal and will work with them to reduce and potentially drop these investments.

The IFC also announced it will start a “voluntary initiative” to disclose the name, sector and location of all these clients’ high-risk projects, not just those related to coal.

Both announcements come after years of campaigning by civil society urging the IFC to drop their support to coal projects and improve their disclosure practices. 

In response, Nadia Daar, head of Oxfam International’s Washington office said:

“Coal has no place in the IFC’s portfolio; that’s why we’re very pleased to see the IFC take this step.

“It appears this new policy only applies to new clients; we hope the IFC will commit to working with current clients to ensure they also reduce and drop coal investments.

“The IFC’s new disclosure initiative is especially important. Greater transparency will allow communities impacted by high-risk projects to see whose money is being invested and therefore what protections and rights they’re entitled to.”

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