Alto Maipo: A Fight for Justice, A Legacy of Harm

The Alto Maipo Hydroelectric Project in Chile, funded by the IFC, IDB, and OPIC, resulted in severe environmental degradation and human rights violations, including threats to the water security of millions in Santiago. Despite these harms, the project's financiers used procedural loopholes and premature divestments to avoid accountability. However, strategic campaigns by Chilean activists and CIEL leveraged Independent Accountability Mechanisms (IAMs) to force institutional changes, resulting in the repeal of the IDB's legal exclusion clause and the creation of the IFC's Remedial Action Framework and Responsible Exit Approach.

• The Alto Maipo Hydroelectric Project caused significant environmental damage, including the acceleration of desertification, depletion of glaciers, and disruption of river flows, which threatened the drinking water supply for over seven million people in Santiago.
• The project suffered from extreme financial mismanagement and engineering failures, with costs escalating from an initial estimate of $600 million to $3.4 billion, and operations remaining offline due to tunnel collapses.
• AES Andes, a subsidiary of the US-based AES Corporation, spent $3 million on 'cyber-intelligence' services between February and August 2020 to monitor and infiltrate environmental defenders and community leaders.
• The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) used a 'legal exclusion clause' to block its Independent Consultation and Investigation Mechanism (MICI) from investigating critical issues, such as water access and environmental integrity, because they were subject to ongoing litigation in Chile.
• The International Finance Corporation (IFC) limited the scope of its accountability process by abruptly selling its loan balance and exiting the project in 2018, though it maintained indirect financial ties through equity investments in Itaú Corpbanca.
• The project's failure to account for climate change and hydrological risks eventually led the subsidiaries of AES Corporation to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in Delaware in November 2021.
• Advocacy surrounding the Alto Maipo case catalyzed major policy shifts at the IFC, including the approval of the Remedial Action Framework in April 2025 and the publication of the Approach to Responsible Exit in October 2024.

APA

Center for International Environmental Law (n.d.). Alto Maipo: A Fight for Justice, A Legacy of Harm. https://www.ciel.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/Alto_Maipo_Report.pdf

Chicago

Center for International Environmental Law. Alto Maipo: A Fight for Justice, A Legacy of Harm. n.d. https://www.ciel.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/Alto_Maipo_Report.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Center for International Environmental Law |title=Alto Maipo: A Fight for Justice, A Legacy of Harm |url=https://www.ciel.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/Alto_Maipo_Report.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{centerforinternationalenvironmentallawndalto, author = {{Center for International Environmental Law}}, title = {{Alto Maipo: A Fight for Justice, A Legacy of Harm}}, institution = {Center for International Environmental Law}, url = {https://www.ciel.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/Alto_Maipo_Report.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }