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, it contains loopholes allowing continued fossil fuel support. It proposes ten essentials for reform, including extending the ban to oil and gas, closing underwriting loopholes, ensuring gender equality, and implementing full public disclosure of sub-projects.

• The Green Equity Approach (GEA) contains loopholes that allow IFC clients to continue supporting 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 definition of coal 'exposure' excludes financial services like the underwriting of bonds or share issues, which are critical funding sources for coal plants. In 2020, 65% of bank financing for fossil fuels 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 up out of nearly 70 commercial banks with active IFC 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 report identifies a failure in the IFC's oversight of the Rizal Commercial Banking Corporation (RCBC) in the Philippines, where the IFC allowed the financing of 10 coal plants without applying Performance Standards, leading to environmental and community harm.

APA

Geary, K., & Pascual, M. M. (n.d.). 10 Essentials for a ‘Truly Green’ Green Equity Approach. Trend Asia. https://trendasia.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/10-Essentials-for-a-‘Truly-Green-Green-Equity-Approach.pdf

Chicago

Geary, Kate, and Mark Moreno Pascual. 10 Essentials for a ‘Truly Green’ Green Equity Approach. Trend Asia, n.d. https://trendasia.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/10-Essentials-for-a-‘Truly-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=Trend Asia |url=https://trendasia.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/10-Essentials-for-a-‘Truly-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 = {Trend Asia}, url = {https://trendasia.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/10-Essentials-for-a-‘Truly-Green-Green-Equity-Approach.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }