International Financial Institutions (IFIs), such as the World Bank Group, regional development banks, and export credit agencies, are taxpayer-funded organizations that loan money to countries for development projects and other business ventures. Through these institutions, U.S. taxpayers have unknowingly supported projects with negative social and environmental impacts. Friends of the Earth is working to make these institutions greener, more open, and more accountable to the public.  We are working specifically to improve IFI policies and practices on harmful oil, gas and mining projects and climate change.

The World Bank Group is the world’s largest multi-lateral development institution.  For over half a century, the World Bank Group has used taxpayer dollars to fund development projects around the world, often with negative environmental and social consequences. Learn more

Regional development banks fund projects in much the same way as the World Bank, often with even lower environmental and social standards. For example, the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) has funded environmentally destructive projects such as the Bolivia-Brazil Gas Pipeline and the Camisea Gas Project in Peru.

Export Credit Agencies (ECAs) are agencies that provide government-backed loans, guarantees and insurance to corporations from their home country seeking to do business overseas in developing countries and emerging markets.  Most export credit agencies lack environmental and social standards.  On the rare occasion that an ECA does turn down a project for environmental reasons, another often jumps in.  This can create a competitive “race to the bottom” that encourages the absence or lowering of standards. Learn more