Climate
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The impact of climate change poses a significant challenge for infrastructure projects and their host communities. To support the global goal of net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, IFC’s Sustainable Infrastructure Advisory (SI Advisory) helps businesses decarbonize, respond to climate risks through adaptation, and plan for a just transition that builds shared prosperity in a new climate economy.
Services
IFC’s SI Advisory team offers a range of tailored climate services for businesses, including:
Decarbonization pathways
Customized strategies to guide clients’ greenhouse gas emissions reduction journeys with science-based targets; phased technological, nature-based, and collaborative solutions; and results measurement frameworks.
Risk and resilience roadmaps
Guidance on physical and transition risk reduction and improved risk and opportunity management; recommendations for investments that enable resilience, and allow more effective TCFD* strategy, risk, and metrics.
Just transition process and plans
Guidance on how to manage human-centered transition risks, seize the opportunities of a new inclusive climate economy, and ensure equitable access to sustainable development.
*Task Force on Climate Related Disclosures and Plans
Climate-Smart Mining Initiative
The Climate-Smart Mining (CSM) Initiative, launched by IFC and the World Bank in 2019, contributes to the responsible extraction, processing, and recycling of minerals and metals needed for low-carbon technologies and other critical sectors. By scaling up technical assistance and investments in mineral-rich developing countries and emerging economies, CSM helps these countries maximize the opportunities associated with the energy transition while ensuring responsible and sustainable mining sector development and production. CSM aims to create shared value and deliver social, economic, and environmental benefits throughout the mining value chain.
SI Advisory’s role includes:
- Strengthening public and private sector institutions working in resource-rich countries
- Addressing market development barriers to mobilize climate-smart mining of critical minerals
- Demonstrating and sharing good practices to address the social, economic, and environmental challenges in climate-smart mining
- Encouraging cross-sectoral cooperation and collaboration
As part of this work, IFC laid out a net zero roadmap for the mining sector, which outlines steps and pathways to limit emissions from extraction to end use, with the aim of creating a greener mining supply chain.
These efforts come at a critical juncture. A World Bank Group report, “Minerals for Climate Action: “The Mineral Intensity of the Clean Energy Transition,” finds that the production of minerals, such as graphite, lithium and cobalt, could increase by nearly 500 percent by 2050, to meet the growing demand for clean energy technologies. It estimates that over 3 billion tons of minerals and metals will be needed to deploy wind, solar and geothermal power, as well as energy storage, required for achieving a below 2°C future.
The climate-smart mining framework pictured here outlines IFC’s approach, featuring four pillars: decarbonization, resilience, circular economy, and market opportunities.
Publication Resources
Additional Resources
- Blog: Sustainable Finance for Power Utilities: Latin America Leading the Charge
- Clean, inclusive, and green: ESG underpins mining’s net-zero pathways by Veronica Nyhan Jones and Lachlan Wright.
- With open data, frontline communities and companies can build climate resilience by Alla Morrison and Arjun Bhalla.
- Pedal to the Metal: Decarbonization Pathways for Copper and Nickel by Namrata Thapar, Arjun Bhalla, and Lachlan Wright.
- World Energy Outlook 2023, International Energy Agency.
- Disclosure Framework, Transition Plan Taskforce.
- Climate related disclosures, The International Financial Reporting Standards Foundation.
- 2023 Status Report, Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures.
- Critical Minerals Market Review 2023, International Energy Agency.
External resources on this page are provided for informational purposes and are not an endorsement by IFC a member of the World Bank Group—of any of the opinions, products, or services of the corporation, organization or individual.
Water Stewardship
Companies need water as a critical production input. Communities rely on water for health and sanitation. Inadequate water and sanitation services can increase societal costs due to sickness, mortality, and loss of productivity. Globally, 660 million people lack access to an improved source of water and 2.4 billion lack access to improved sanitation facilities, leading to poor health and degraded environmental conditions.
Increased water stress from urbanization, climate change, and industrial use will continue to widen the gap between available supply and demand. To achieve the Sustainable Development Goal 6 water target by 2030, annual investments need to increase by $150 billion to reach $410 billion per year.
IFC acts as advisor and convener, helping to develop shared solutions to water challenges facing the private sector, government, and civil society.
IFC Sustainable Infrastructure Advisory’s work includes:
Training and awareness-raising
Convening companies, communities, and governments to discuss water risks and opportunities; training programs and good practice guidelines to educate stakeholders about water issues.
Identifying water risks
Developing tools to help companies identify social water risks and build an internal business case for investing in water risk reduction.
Responding to water risks
Guiding interventions to address water risks, including stakeholder engagement strategies and strategic community investment programs.
Financial support
Connecting clients with IFC financing mechanisms for investment in water efficiency projects, and/or community engagement programs at the asset level.
Projects
Mongolia Mining & Water Management Program
Since 2012, IFC has convened industry roundtables between mining companies operating within the mineral-rich but water-scarce South Gobi region of Mongolia. The program has boosted the skills and raised awareness of social and technical staff from participating companies, triggered collaborative partnerships between companies and local communities on water monitoring, and improved the transparency of water data through partnerships with the EITI and governments stakeholders.
This initiative focused on the most active, rural, and remote mining regions in Peru to help build the capacity of government and local leaders in seven municipalities. The municipal staff was trained in investment management and introduced to transparency and accountability practices to increase dialogue and community participation.
From Disclosure to Development (D2D) Program
This program provides data visualization techniques to communicate water data findings with non-technical audiences.
Photo by Iwan Bagus, IFC
