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World Bank reportedly financing Indonesian coal mining companies despite ban
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The World Bank headquarters on H Street, Washington, DC. (Courtesy of/www.worldbank.org)
T
he World Bank's private-sector arm, the International Finance Corporation (IFC), has been quietly funding some of Indonesia’s most destructive coal mining companies despite its 2013 virtual ban on coal financing, a report says.
The collaborative report by Inclusive Development International, the Bank Information Center Europe and Jakarta-based coal watchdog Mining Advocacy Network (Jatam), was released at a policy forum in advance of the World Bank’s 2019 Spring Meetings in Washington, DC.
According to the report, the IFC had indirectly bankrolled six major coal mining companies in Indonesia, which it said had decimated rain forests and biodiversity, threatened the country's food security and displaced thousands of indigenous people from their homes and land.
Two of the Indonesian coal companies mentioned in the report are Bumi Resources and Adaro Energy, although both have denied any involvement in the financing schemes.
“No IFC loan has been given to Bumi," Bumi Resources corporate secretary Dileep Srivastava told The Jakarta Post.
Adaro Energy also denied the content of the report.
"We didn't receive any loans from the IFC," Adaro head of corporate communications Febriati Nadira said.
