Don’t Lose Sight of Trade: IFC’s Chance to Improve Environmental and Social Safeguards in Trade Finance

The ongoing review of the International Finance Corporation’s (IFC) Sustainability Framework (SF) provides a crucial opportunity to close a long-standing gap: The insufficient regulation of trade finance. While the SF is designed to ensure that IFC investments are environmentally and socially responsible, its application to trade finance has remained inconsistent and unclear. Strengthening the SF in this area is essential to build a solid foundation for IFC’s growing trade finance portfolio. It would also reinforce the framework’s credibility for the many other institutions worldwide that rely on it.