In the News

Multilateral development banks have mechanisms to address and resolve community complaints. But stories from residents and civil society groups across Asia and the Caucasus show that even when such mechanisms are in place, accessing remedy is extremely challenging — if not impossible.

The World Bank Group’s new Corporate Scorecard fails to include indicators on accountability, a gap which is symptomatic of a broader failure by the WBG to internalise learning from its independent accountability mechanisms. Civil society remains concerned that Multilateral Development Banks’ ‘evolution’ processes risk deprioritising accountability in order to get money out the door more quickly.

IFC says it will evaluate development impact, potential for harm, and environmental and social considerations as it looks to leave projects. But will the new approach work?

The bank must take an honest look at its own troubling history on renewable energy projects — specifically, the projects it has funded that have harmed environments and communities, which have largely gone unaddressed.

Lack of community consultation and accountability frameworks undermining efforts to fund a just transition, campaigners argue.

Today, compliance researchers and herders say two-thirds of the mine’s commitments are complete and or in progress, but complain of slow progress with the remainder, including the all-important issue of access to clean water.

Investors must pay attention to the mining major’s negative social and environmental impacts, argues Julio Castor Achmadi, Communities Associate at Accountability Counsel.

The World Bank just marked its 80th anniversary. That’s as good a time as any to chart a new course on accountability by implementing expert and community recommendations to improve the way it handles reports of environmental and human rights harms.

Freshfields will look into whether IFC’s accountability arm, the Compliance Advisor Ombudsman, was “fully able to execute its compliance investigation mandate,” and whether IFC staff and management cooperated fully with its work.

Campaigners and residents near MHP’s flagship farm in central Ukraine say the company is hurting the environment and their quality of life, but continues to secure major loans without any oversight of such impacts.

As the EBRD looks to the year ahead, we urge the bank to take this opportunity to reframe its policies with human and environmental rights at their core.

In Oaxaca, Mexico, members of the Indigenous Chinanteco community used a dispute resolution process to prevent construction of a hydroelectric dam that would have cut off access to a culturally important spring.

Independent accountability mechanisms are a necessity in the field of international development finance where investments have far reaching consequences on the environmental, social, and human rights of already marginalized communities and domestic legal avenues to seek redress remain effectively shut.

Retaliation claims highlight human rights and environmental risks and tensions in an agency at the forefront of U.S.-China rivalry in Africa.

This investigation needs to be a priority for the bank. We cannot trust the IFC to be a responsible investor that deserves more money from donors until this investigation is complete and concrete recommendations are made to prevent something like this from occurring again.

After the Bridge sexual abuse scandal, advocates clamored for the International Finance Corporation to compensate victims. But some experts say it’s not that simple.

Representatives of around 30 environmental and human rights organizations and affected communities from Latin America participated in the Annual Meetings of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and IDB Invest.

A lawyer and a well-known figure in the field of accountability, Margaux Day became Accountability Counsel’s Executive Director in February 2024. She is now charting an ambitious course to fulfill Accountability Counsel’s aim to advocate for people harmed by internationally financed projects as they seek justice.

The inquiry comes after the International Finance Corporation’s internal watchdog investigation into reports of sexual abuse at Bridge schools found that the World Bank’s private sector arm had failed on multiple counts.

The Biden administration will take additional steps to encourage businesses to address negative impacts of their supply chain operations and footprints abroad, including those involving human and labor rights and the environment, according to a new plan published on Monday.