The following are the environmental and social policies that IFC followed prior to February 2006, and are provided as reference material only. As of February 2006, the below policies have been replaced by our revised Environmental and Social Standards, which clearly define the roles and responsibilities of IFC and its client companies.
The Disclosure Policy (September 1998) defined IFC's policy on disclosure of information and described the materials available to the public under that policy. This policy was replaced by the revised IFC Policy on Disclosure of Information in February 2006.
The Safeguard Policies provided guidelines for IFC and its clients on how to prevent and mitigate undue harm to people and their environment in the identification, preparation, and implementation of projects. The Safeguard Policies were replaced by the Policy on Social and Environmental Sustainability and the Performance Standards in February 2006.
The Environmental and Social Review Procedure (December 1998) was prepared for IFC staff and project sponsors to evaluate prospective projects prior to investment, focusing on economic, financial, technical, legal, environmental and social issues during the project appraisal process. This policy was replaced by the revised Environmental and Social Review Procedure in April 2006 (see below), which was again updated in July 2007.
The Guidance Notes accompanied the December 1998 Environmental and Social Review Procedure (ESRP) and contained additional information to assist IFC staff and project sponsors in applying the ESRP. These policies were replaced by the revised Guidance Notes in February 2006 (see below), which were again updated in July 2007.
The IFC Exclusion List defines the types of projects that IFC does not finance. The below Exclusion List relates to IFC's investments prior to IFC's introduction of the Environmental and Social Review Procedure version 2 dated July 30, 2007. This version of the Exclusion List was replaced by the revised IFC Exclusion List in March 2007.
