The IFC provides financing and a range of services directly to private sector clients conducting business in developing countries. Many IFC loans support companies engaged in activities that cause signficant social and environmental impacts, such as gold mining, oil and gas pipelines, pulp and paper mills, among others.
In 2006, the IFC completely overhauled its social and environmental policies. It abandoned its former Safeguard policies, based largely on those of the World Bank, in favor of a new system based upon principles and guidelines. The IFC adopted a Policy on Environmental and Social Sustainability that outlines IFC's obligations and a set of eight Performance Standards (PSs) that identify a client's obligations in the following areas:
- social and environmental assessment and management systems
- labor and working conditions
- pollution prevention and abatement
- community, health, safety and security
- land acquisition and involuntary resettlement
- biodiversity conservation and sustainable natural resource management
- indigenous peoples
- cultural heritage