Submission on the IFC Green Equity Approach to Financial Institutions

BIC Europe joined other civil society groups to provide input to IFC on its Green Equity Approach to Financial Institutions.

We welcome the invitation to comment on the IFC’s Green Equity Approach, which represents an important opportunity for the World Bank Group to address the climate impacts of its indirect investments through financial intermediaries.

We welcome the initiative of IFC to “green” its equity investments in financial institutions, which will set an example for other international and national financial institutions. Given the urgency of action to avoid catastrophic climate change, we urge IFC to be bolder in its goals, and to be driven by science-based targets1 to ensure warming does not exceed 1.5 degrees Celsius.

To achieve these goals, it is important to make firm, clearly defined commitments that are enshrined in IFC policy as well as practice so that these commitments remain a priority at all levels of the institution. These are important first steps toward what should be a progressively stronger approach to addressing the climate crisis and should be viewed as a strong foundation on which more ambitious commitments can be built.

To read the full letter and see the list of signatories click here.