The Building and Wood Workers’ International (BWI) is launching a position paper linked to the International Finance Corporation (IFC) safeguards review, calling on the IFC to prohibit all asbestos-bonded materials from its invested projects immediately. The paper, titled “Prohibit All Asbestos-Bonded Materials from IFC-Invested Projects,” asserts that the IFC’s current policy, which still allows asbestos use under “certain conditions,” poses grave health, environmental, and financial risks. BWI stresses that it is long past time for the IFC to “catch up” with other multilateral development banks (MDBs) and align its sustainability framework with scientific evidence and global best practices.

The position paper points out that the World Health Organisation (WHO) reports over 200,000 annual work-related deaths caused by cancer attributable to asbestos. At the same time, the WHO, the International Labour Organisation (ILO), and other MDBs, such as the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), and the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), have prohibited the use of asbestos altogether. BWI finds the IFC's exception allowing up to 20% asbestos in bonded asbestos cement products to be both scientifically unfounded and ethically unjustifiable. The WHO states that there are no safe levels of asbestos exposure.

BWI’s paper further argues that the IFC continues to finance projects containing asbestos, thereby putting workers, local communities, and the environment at significant risk, particularly in areas prone to disasters, where buildings constructed with asbestos may collapse or disintegrate due to earthquakes, floods, or storms. BWI urges the IFC to follow its peers and eliminate asbestos from its project portfolios, emphasising that doing so will not only protect life but also fulfil the IFC's obligation to promote sustainable and safe development.

Download it here.