International Financial Institutions

One German participant summarized: "The IFC places all of the burden of environmental and social safeguards on the client ... The whole world is re-regulating and you should too."

If IFC stays on its current path, its portfolio will become larger than the World Bank in about five years. This is a staggering result for IFC, whose portfolio was in the $2 to $4 billion range less than a decade ago.

The World Bank's current struggle within its Forest Carbon Partnership Facility illustrates the difficulty of building a solid programmatic foundation that incorporates civil society concerns.