Environmental & Social Policies | Bank Information Center: Monitoring the projects and policies of the World Bank, IMF and other international financial institutions


bicusa.org/environment Home IssuesEnvironmental & Social Policies Environmental & Social Policies Overview Background Concerns Problem Projects Updates Resources Contacts RSS Update \| 22 August 2008 The IFIs and financial intermediaries in ECA: Implementation of environmental and social standards International Financial Institution (IFI) lending through financial intermediaries (FIs) has become particularly significant in the Europe and Central Asia (ECA) region, but the IFIs lack adequate policies to ensure social and environmental best practices are applied to subsequent FI lending. Read more Press Release \| 21 August 2008 Global civil society calls for private banks to withdraw support from Bangladesh coal mine Over 100 civil society groups from 31 countries are calling on financial backers to withdraw their support from the the controversial Phulbari Coal Project in Bangladesh. The project will displace over 200,000 people, impoverish farming households and cause immense environmental impacts in one of the most fertile regions of Bangladesh. Despite these factors, according to information available on its website, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) remains interested in financing the project after having distanced itself from it earlier this year. Read more Update \| 18 August 2008 World Bank announces countries eligible for avoided-deforestation credits Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and five other African countries were included in a list of 14 that will take part in the Bank's controversial Forest Carbon Partnership Facility (FCPF). Read more Press Release \| 14 August 2008 IFC and leading international banks do not have a robust framework for minimizing human rights risks A new study finds that international project financiers, including the leading international banks and the International Finance Corporation (IFC), do not have a robust framework for minimizing the social risks posed by their projects. Read more Press Release \| 5 August 2008 World Bank acknowledges serious flaws in West African Gas Pipeline But questions on compensation for displaced, “upstream” impacts, and gas flaring remain unanswered. Read more Update \| 30 July 2008 The World Bank as a Knowledge Producer The author, Shripad Dharmadhikary, examines why being a knowledge provider is so important to the World Bank, and how the Bank uses its research and knowledge services to intervene in the policy making of borrowing countries. The Bank Information Center supported the distribution of this book so as to highlight this little discussed role of the World Bank. Read more Update \| 18 July 2008 World Bank provides additional financing to electricity and water projects in West Bank and Gaza The World Bank has agreed to additional financing for electricity and water projects in the West Bank and Gaza. But the reach of the assistance to the most needy, and the effects on curbing high utility bills are still questionable. Read more Update \| 1 July 2008 BIC's new handbook for advocacy on extractive industry revenues Bank Information Center has recently released it's new "Handbook for Advocacy on Extractive Industry Revenues: Good Practices and the IMF’s Guide on Resource Revenue Transparency." Read more Update \| 21 June 2008 Newmont prepares mining operations in Ghana forest reserve As Newmont, the world's largest mining company prepares for gold mining operations in Ghana, civil society groups challenge the purported benefits for local communities. Meanwhile, the International Finance Corporation (IFC) has come under fire for the environmental and social legacies of its gold mining investments in Ghana and its plans proceed to begin the next phase of Newmont's controversial Ahafo gold project. Read more Update \| 18 June 2008 Questions remain unanswered surrounding the Red Sea – Dead Sea Canal as feasibility study begins The World Bank’s support for the $15.5 million feasibility studies continues to raise questions about the Bank’s application of its operational safeguard policies on the project. Read more Press Release \| 9 April 2008 Kazakh environmentalists win access to emissions data at Karachaganak In a victory for environmental groups, the Kazakhstan’s Supreme Court ruled in favor of Green Salvation, a environmental group, in a precedent setting lawsuit seeking access to environmental information about atmospheric emissions at the Karachaganak Oil and Gas Condensate Field in western Kazakhstan. Read more Update \| 7 April 2008 Joint Bretton Woods Project Update # 60 Read the special Spring Meetings edition of the Bretton Woods Update, co-produced with Afrodad, Bank Information Center, Choike, and Eurodad. The issue is also available in Spanish. Read more Press Release \| 4 April 2008 ADB pulls out of controversial coal project in Bangladesh The Director of the Asian Development Bank’s Private Sector Operations Department, Robert Bestani, notified the Bank’s Board of Directors last week that it will take the Phulbari Coal Project in Bangladesh out of the Bank’s funding pipeline. Read more Update \| 3 April 2008 Vacancy: World Bank Inspection Panel Updated April 10, 2008: The World Bank's Inspection Panel is recruiting qualified applicants to fill a vacancy in its three-member team. Regional balance considerations could likely mean selection of a candidate from the South East Asia region. The closing date for applications has been extended to April 30, 2008. Read more Update \| 3 April 2008 Indigenous peoples neglected by realigned IDB As a result of the Inter-American Development Bank's (IDB) recent realignment, indigenous issues are now demoted within a Bank that touts its credentials for social inclusion. Read more Update \| 28 March 2008 Growing foreign appetite for Brazilian land As wealthy local and foreign investors purchase more and more Brazilian land, wuestions over how to contain rising land prices emerge. Read more Update \| 17 January 2008 Phulbari resistance documentary Phulbari resistance groups produce first documentary video. Read more Update \| 16 January 2008 Rebuked by internal investigation, World Bank plans to do more in DRC forest sector, but will it do better? An Inspection Panel report on the World Bank’s safeguard policy violations in its Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) forest sector operations prompts discussion on new approach and greater role for Pygmies in decision-making about the future of the world’s second-largest rainforest. Read more Update \| 16 January 2008 South Asian CSOs boycott ADB consultations Close to fifty people representing social movements in India and other parts of South Asia delivered a boycott statement to Asian Development Bank officials in New Delhi on January 16th, at the start of the Bank's consultations on its Draft Safeguard Policy Statement. The organised protest consisted of slogans and plackards, one of which read: "End to Lending." Read more Press Release \| 15 January 2008 ADB faces boycott of its "safeguards" policy consultations Civil society groups from South Asia are planning to boycott the Asian Development Bank's consultation meeting on its safeguards policy update, to be held in New Delhi, India tomorrow. The groups, from India, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh state that the ADB's consultation draft, released in October 2007, greatly dilutes the Bank's earlier policies on Environment (2002), Involuntary Resettlement (1995) and Indigenous Peoples (1998), and is opposed to indigenous peoples’ rights and subverts environmental considerations. Read more Update \| 14 January 2008 NGOs call on ADB to abandon controversial coal project in Bangladesh Citing violations of five of the Asian Development Bank's (ADB) own policies, non-governmental organizations from around the world have petitioned the ADB to discontinue its pre-appraisal of the Phulbari Coal Project and remove it from the funding pipeline. Read more Update \| 14 December 2007 Reto a los préstamos para cazar el proyecto de petróleo del Perú Una delegación de alto nivel de líderes indígenas, de la sociedad civil y parlamentarios de Perú se encuentran en Washington DC para tratar de incidir frente al voto del BID sobre préstamos públicos para la planta de licuefacción de gas natural de Camisea. La delegación argumenta que al aprobar el proyecto PERU LNG, tanto el BID, como la CFI y el Banco Ex- Im estarían violando sus propias salvaguardias sociales y ambientales. Read more Update \| 13 December 2007 Loans to Hunt Oil’s Peruvian fossil fuel project challenged A high level delegation of indigenous, civil society and Parliamentarian leaders from Peru are in Washington, DC to lobby against the expected vote on public loans for the Peru LNG natural gas liquification plant. The delegation argues that by approving the project, the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and the Ex-Im Bank and the International Finance Corporation (IFC), would breach their own social and environmental safeguards. Read more Press Release \| 11 December 2007 Press Release: World Bank hands off forests Environmental groups gathered in Bali for the United Nations convention on climate change warn that the World Bank's market-oriented Forest Carbon Partnership Facility (FCPF), launched today, will have negative social and environmental impacts. Citing the Bank's poor track record in the forest sector and ongoing support for fossil fuels, the groups are demanding that forests be kept out of the carbon market and that governments increase their funding for other approaches to forest protection and climate change mitigation. Read more Update \| 4 December 2007 Seeing the forest for the carbon? As the World Bank prepares to launch the Forest Carbon Partnership Facility (FCPF) -- its flagship initiative to address deforestation-related greenhouse gas emissions -- at the United Nations climate change conference in Bali, Indonesia, we offer some background on the FCPC and outline the concerns surrounding this controversial new mechanism. Read more Update \| 30 November 2007 Second Latin American Congress of National Parks and Protected Areas The Second Latin American Congress of National Parks and Protected Areas held in San Carlos de Bariloche, Argentina was the largest gathering of environmental organizations working in Latin America since the last Congress in 1997, held in Santa Marta. Read Vince McElhinny's recap of the events of the Congress. Read more Update \| 30 November 2007 Segundo Congreso Latinoamericano de Parques Nacionales y Áreas Protegidas El Segundo Congreso Latinoamericano de Parques Nacionales y Áreas Protegidas celebrado en San Carlos de Bariloche, Argentina fue el mayor encuentro de organizaciones medioambientales trabajando en Latinoamérica desde el ultimo Congreso en 1997 celebrado en Santa Marta. Lea la recapitulación de Vince McElhinny sobre los eventos del Congreso. Read more Update \| 29 November 2007 European Parliament passes resolution to end taxpayer support for fossil fuel projects Resolution is welcomed by NGOs campaigning to have export credit agencies and public investment banks be held accountable for their actions. Read more Update \| 27 November 2007 Comment: Try as it might, the World Bank cannot hide its failings The World Bank touted it's meeting with a delegation of Pygmies from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) during the Bank's Annual Meetings in October. But as Simon Counsell of Rainforest Foundation UK points out, the Bank has consistently ignored the findings of the quasi-independent Inspecition Panel and violated its own "safeguard policies." Read more Press Release \| 12 November 2007 Press release: Taman tries the taste of oil Guilt for the environmental catastrophe in the Strait of Kerch lies with the authorities in Russia and Ukraine, as well as with the companies transporting dangerous cargo Read more Update \| 6 November 2007 ADB responds to NGO Forum on demands around safeguards review The NGO Forum on ADB, on October 24 and 25, raised several issues with the ADB around the review of its Safeguard Policies. The ADB responded by agreeing to change dates of two regional consultations and to provide Vietnamese and Bahasa translations of the Consultation Draft. Read more Update \| 19 October 2007 Internal watchdog slams World Bank agriculture programs in Africa since 1991 As the World Bank launches its latest flagship World Development Report, this year on "Agriculture for Development," the Independent Evaluation Group's report clearly acknowledges that the Bank's engagement with the most important sector in its highest-priority region has largely been a failure. Read more Update \| 9 October 2007 World Bank tribunal in The Hague On October 15th, a public hearing on the World Bank will take place in The Hague. The hearing aims to raise the debate on the legitimacy of the World Bank and influence the aid distribution process. Read more Update \| 26 September 2007 Independent People’s Tribunal charges World Bank with serious violations of democracy, human rights and sovereignty In its preliminary findings, the first ever Independent People’s Tribunal on the World Bank in India found that the Bank had an undue and disturbingly negative influence in shaping India’s national policies disproportionate to its contribution, financial or otherwise. Read more Update \| 20 September 2007 Civil society compares ADB safeguard policies with peer institutions Civil society groups monitoring the Asian Development Bank's "safeguard" policies find that the ADB needs to make substantial improvements to catch up with international standards and peer institutions. Read more Update \| 13 September 2007 ADB "safeguards" review sparks resignations Four members of the team tasked with revising the ADB project "safeguards" have resigned in protest against management's efforts to dilute the bank's policies on environment, resettlement and indigenous people. Read more Update \| 17 August 2007 ADB's Energy Strategy must adhere to international standards The Asian Development Bank has completed the consultation process on its draft Energy Strategy. Civil society organizations from throughout the region have called on the ADB to incorporate current international best practices in sector, and at minimum to adopt the principles of the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative. Read more Update \| 11 July 2007 "Another world is possible; Another U.S. is necessary" forum proclaims The first U.S. Social Forum concluded July 1, having drawn over 10,000 activists to Atlanta, Georgia, for five days of talks on social, economic and political issues. Read more Update \| 14 June 2007 Bank to pilot carbon fund for avoided deforestation The World Bank is preparing to announce a new $250 million fund aimed at using carbon finance to reduce emissions from deforestation. According to recent news reports, world leaders have encouraged the Bank to move forward with plans to create a Forest Carbon Partnership Facility (FCPF), which would leverage private investor money and donor contributions to help countries develop strategies for avoiding forest degradation and secure payment for forest-related emissions reduction, through the creation of tradable carbon credits. Read more Update \| 5 June 2007 2007 Annual Meetings of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) held its Annual Governors Meeting in Kazan, Russia May 20-21, 2007. The NGO Programme organized by the Bank attracted a large array of civil society organizations from Russia and abroad. While many questions were left unanswered by the Bank, NGOs succeeded in raising issues of critical importance to civil society in Russia and elsewhere. Read more Update \| 17 May 2007 Asian Development Bank will not weaken or dilute existing social and environmental policies, panel told Project affected people and civil society organizations highlight problems with current ADB policies aiming to protect the environment and human rights at a BIC and Oxfam Australia-hosted panel. Read more Update \| 17 May 2007 NGOs organize panel discussion on ADB safeguards At the 40th Annual Asian Development Bank (ADB) AGMs, CSOs outlined major gaps in existing ADB standards and discussed what the ADB should do to meet and surpass the highest international standards as ADB gears up to revamp its Safeguard Policies. Read more Update \| 26 April 2007 World Bank deputy attempted to omit references to climate change World Bank Managing Director, Juan Jose Daboub, apparently tried to delete the words "climate change" from the institution's main environmental strategy paper, reports the Financial Times. Read more Update \| 18 April 2007 World Bank has split personality on global warming The World Bank Group's pledge to reduce greenhouse gases rings hollow as the organization increases assistance for the development of fossil fuels. Read more Update \| 23 February 2007 MIGA reviewing Social, Environmental and Disclosure Policies The World Bank's Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA) has posted draft policies for public comment until April 27, 2007. Read more Update \| 14 February 2007 Asian Development Bank Postpones Safeguard Policy Update Consultations The consultations were originally scheduled for March 2007. New consultations are tentatively scheduled for the late second quarter of 2007. Read more Update \| 8 February 2007 Asian Development Bank Postpones Safeguards Policy Consultation in Hanoi An ADB Safeguard Policy Consultation was scheduled to take place on March 8, 2007, in Hanoi, Vietnam. This has now been postponed and a new date has not been announced. Read more Update \| 31 January 2007 ADB Postpones South Asia Regional Consultation on its Safeguard Policies The consultation, whose date is yet to be determined, will collect the opinions of stakeholders from eight countries. Read more Update \| 31 January 2007 ADB Prepares for South Asia Regional Consultation on its Safeguard Policies The upcoming consultation aims to collect the opinions of stakeholders in eight countries. Read more Update \| 16 January 2007 EBRD decides against involvement in controversial Sakhalin II project The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) has decided not to fund the largest oil and gas project in the world, Sakhalin II, on Russia’s Far Eastern island after several years of consultations. Read more Update \| 6 December 2006 Urgent concerns about Uganda dam go unanswered by World Bank An NGO letter to the World Bank details urgent concerns regarding the Bujagali hydropower project in Uganda, which is being fast-tracked for development early next year. Read more Update \|