Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, a global law firm, has been tapped by the World Bank to probe accusations that the International Finance Corporation interfered with an investigation into alleged child sexual abuse at a chain of schools it funded in Kenya.
The internal inquiry by the bank’s ombudsmen will address complaints that its private lending arm, International Finance Corporation, is indirectly supporting the Surabaya coal complex. IFC denies any non-compliance with existing policies.
A new report reveals that the World Bank’s private sector arm, the International Finance Corporation (IFC), has indirectly financed at least one captive coal project on Indonesia’s Obi Island via its financial intermediary client, Hana Bank Indonesia.
The World Bank’s private investment arm is refusing to directly compensate individuals who faced sexual, physical, and financial harms at a chain of schools it funded in Africa and India, despite requests from the people who were hurt and pressure from civil society advocates, U.S. senators, and an internal watchdog.
A new study by civic society groups accuses the Asian Development Bank of indirectly financing coal power plants in Indonesia as the multilateral holds its annual general meeting in Tbilisi, Georgia.
Green NGOs have accused the Asian Development Bank of indirectly financing coal plants in Indonesia through a $600 million loan despite promises to no longer fund projects tied to the fossil fuel, according to a new report.
A coalition of NGOs working for a sustainable and equitable electric vehicle value chain is urging the International Standards Organisation (ISO) to put civil society at the centre of its upcoming critical mineral supply chain standard.
World Bank chief Ajay Banga apologized earlier this month for the organization’s handling of widespread child sexual abuse at a chain of for-profit Kenyan schools that it funded through the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the bank’s investment arm.
U.S. International Development Finance Corporation, which finances private sector development solutions, has asked its independent office that reviews complaints to investigate its investment in Bridge International Academies, a for-profit chain of schools where child sex abuse was reported in Kenya in 2020.
A new open-access online tool, developed by human rights NGO Inclusive Development International and the University of Chicago Data Science Institute, aims to address this issue. Called PalmWatch, it links 15 major industrial consumers of palm oil, such as Nestlé, PepsiCo and Unilever, to the ground-level impacts of their palm oil consumption, including deforestation.