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The World Bank has failed to uphold its own climate rules for US$2bn worth of agriculture loans, indicating some of its programs are failing to reduce emissions or improve the climate resilience of livestock, a report from a coalition of environmental organisations has found.
The report, published by Stop Financing Factory Farming, explains that of the 38 loans made between 2020 and 2025 to meat, dairy and feed corporations by the World Bank’s private finance arm, the International Finance Corporation (IFC), none met the climate requirements set out by the multilateral development bank.
Animal agriculture is responsible for at least 12% of global greenhouse gas emissions, although some estimates are higher. A Harvard study found absolute livestock emissions need to fall by around 50% by 2030 to keep the Paris Agreement goals within reach. US banks alone could lose billions of dollars due to climate risk from livestock farms.
“By having environmental policies it doesn’t properly enforce, IFC is helping to greenwash the polluting companies it lends to. These loans are a colossal waste of public finance at a time when money is tight,” said Ashley Schaeffer Yildiz, programme manager at Friends of the Earth US.
Released ahead of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund spring meetings in Washington later this week, the findings highlight the role that financing has in reducing emissions in high-emitting sectors like agriculture.
Researchers found no evidence in loan documents and publicly available information that any of the companies receiving loans from the IFC had adhered to its requirement to address physical climate risks.
Only five companies set out how they have or would reduce emissions, even though emission reduction plans are required by the IFC. Meanwhile, 26 companies (68%) reported scope 1 and 2 emissions, but only one company had set out a reduction target for its scope 3 emissions.
The IFC is expected to announce a review of its sustainability framework, including its environmental and social safeguards, which were last updated in 2012 and include requirements for clients to reduce emissions. It has also committed to align 100% of its financing activities with the goals of the Paris Agreement by 1 July.
The report authors recommend that the IFC stop supporting the expansion of industrial livestock production and instead facilitate the transition to climate-impact mitigation and adaptation agroeconomic systems.
It also recommends strengthening requirements for emissions disclosures and adaptation requirements, including requiring all borrowers to show how their operations reduce the risks of climate change such as mass pollution and increased spread of diseases.
“Channelling billions into such a high-emitting industry is jeopardising our chances to stay within relatively safe global warming limits,” said Divya Narain, food systems finance researcher and co-author of the report.
Narain urged the IFC to tighten its financing criteria at its upcoming performance review, “including requiring companies it lends to to report and make absolute reductions to scope 1-3 emissions, especially to methane – and ensure they actually adhere to them”.
This page was last updated April 22, 2025
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