10 Essentials for a ‘Truly Green’ Green Equity Approach

The report critiques the IFC's Green Equity Approach (GEA), noting that while it aims to phase out coal by 2030, loopholes allow continued fossil fuel financing. It proposes ten essential reforms, including extending the ban to oil and gas, closing underwriting loopholes, ensuring gender equality, and implementing full public disclosure of sub-projects to achieve true Paris alignment.

• The Green Equity Approach (GEA) contains loopholes that allow IFC clients to continue financing coal, oil, and gas. For example, Hana Indonesia bank financed the Java 9 and 10 coal plant complexes in Banten Province, Indonesia, after signing the GEA, without the IFC's knowledge because clients are not required to reveal new coal financing.
• The GEA's current definition of coal 'exposure' excludes financial services like the underwriting of bonds or share issues. This is a significant gap, as 65% of bank financing for fossil fuels in 2020 occurred through underwriting rather than project or corporate lending.
• Adoption of the GEA among IFC's equity clients has been very low; only three commercial banks and two insurance companies have signed the agreement out of nearly 70 commercial banks in which the IFC holds active equity investments.
• The IFC has failed to meet its commitments to release a Paris alignment methodology for intermediary financing by October 2021 and to review the GEA in 2021.
• The IFC has been linked to significant harms through its intermediary lending, such as the case of Rizal Commercial Banking Corporation (RCBC) in the Philippines, where the Compliance Advisor Ombudsman found the IFC breached its own standards by allowing the financing of 10 coal plants.

APA

Geary, K., & Pascual, M. M. (n.d.). 10 Essentials for a ‘Truly Green’ Green Equity Approach. Center for International Environmental Law. https://www.ciel.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/10-Essentials-for-a-%E2%80%98Truly-Green-Green-Equity-Approach.pdf

Chicago

Geary, Kate, and Mark Moreno Pascual. 10 Essentials for a ‘Truly Green’ Green Equity Approach. Center for International Environmental Law, n.d. https://www.ciel.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/10-Essentials-for-a-%E2%80%98Truly-Green-Green-Equity-Approach.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Geary |first1=Kate |last2=Pascual |first2=Mark Moreno |title=10 Essentials for a ‘Truly Green’ Green Equity Approach |publisher=Center for International Environmental Law |url=https://www.ciel.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/10-Essentials-for-a-%E2%80%98Truly-Green-Green-Equity-Approach.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{gearyndessentials, author = {Geary, Kate and Pascual, Mark Moreno}, title = {{10 Essentials for a ‘Truly Green’ Green Equity Approach}}, institution = {Center for International Environmental Law}, url = {https://www.ciel.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/10-Essentials-for-a-%E2%80%98Truly-Green-Green-Equity-Approach.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }