Global Day of Action to Stop World Bank Factory Farm Finance

On April 24th, 2025, the Stop Financing Factory Farming campaign stormed the global stage by organizing a Global Day of Action across 5 continents calling on the World Bank Group to stop financing the industrial production of meat and dairy and shift investments toward just, sustainable food systems. 

Activists staged powerful actions outside of World Bank and IFC offices in Bangkok, Bogotá, Buenos Aires, Goma, Lagos, Medellín, Mexico City, New York, Quito, Santiago, São Paulo and Washington D.C., delivering a public letter signed by 285 civil society organizations, academics and leaders across the globe. High profile leaders including Peter Singer and renowned conservationist Dr. Jane Goodall, PhD, DBE, Founder – the Jane Goodall Institute & Messenger of Peace– used their platforms to support and raise awareness about the campaign.

Event organizers delivered giant symbolic invoices documenting the true environmental, health, and economic costs of the $1.4 billion the World Bank Group invested in industrial livestock operations between 2023 and 2024: climate destruction, deforestation, biodiversity loss, animal cruelty, water pollution and public health crises.

Check out these beautiful action photos highlighting the diversity of our global movement!

Thailand

S3F activists and supporters from Sinergia Animal Thailand organized a street protest, press conference and delivered our public letter to the World Bank office in Bangkok.

Colombia

S3F activists and supporters from Global Forest Coalition (GFC), World Animal Protection (WAP) and Sinergia Animal staged a powerful visual action outside the World Bank office in Bogotá and Medellín, demanding an end to factory farm finance. The events featured activists wearing giant animal masks and presenting stark data on how IFC-backed factory farming harms the climate, biodiversity, local communities and animal welfare. They delivered our public letter to the World bank offices in both locations and distributed materials to raise awareness.

USA

In Washington D.C., representatives from the S3F coalition, Friends of the Earth US, World Animal Protection US and Big Shift Global, delivered our public letter to the World Bank global headquarters. S3F Indigenous Youth Ambassador, Xananine Ramirez, traveled from Mexico to share a statement with Bank representatives; she also spoke on behalf of the campaign at the UN Permanent Forum for Indigenous Peoples in New York. 

In New York, supporters from Legado Gaia and Debt for Climate US organized a peaceful protest in front of the World Bank office to call out the role of public financial institutions including the World Bank and IMF in financing the expansion of factory farms in the Americas. They gathered with affected community members and held banners and colorful visuals to raise awareness about the polluting effects of industrial animal agriculture. The action was part of a global day of protest demanding a shift away from factory farming, debt mechanisms and toward community-based agroecological food systems that protect communities, animals and the planet. 

Ecuador

In Quito, activists from Cedenma, Terranimal, Colectivo LOA, Quito Sin Minería, Casa Gato and Movimiento Animalista Nacional delivered the S3F public letter and large symbolic invoice to the World Bank office,  and passed out educational flyers to raise awareness about the impacts of factory farming in Ecuador, specifically Pronaca’s factory farms financed by the IFC and IDB Invest 

Mexico

In Mexico City, activists and supporters from Legado Gaia and Deuda por Clima México organized a peaceful protest and public outreach action to call out the role of public and private financial institutions, including the World Bank and IMF, in financing the expansion of factory farms in southern Mexico. They used megaphones, banners and powerful visuals to raise awareness. They partnered with local groups to offer plant-based food samples that highlight just and sustainable alternatives to industrial animal agriculture. 

Nigeria

S3F supporters from Renevlyn Development Initiative organized a letter delivery at the World Bank office in Lagos and generated press coverage of their event in the Southern Examiner and This Day.

Democratic Republic of Congo

S3F supporters in Goma distributed flyers to spotlight the urgent need for development banks to stop financing industrial animal agriculture in Africa. 

UK

In London, S3F activists and supporters with Compassion in World Farming hosted an action to deliver the S3F public letter to the World Bank’s UK office and staged a short visual stunt outside with a large symbolic invoice featuring the damages of factory farming, demanding accountability for the harm caused to animals, people and planet. With bold visuals, they called on the World Bank Group to stop financing industrial animal agriculture. 

Argentina and Chile

Activists from Sinergia Animal hand delivered the S3F public letter to the World Bank offices in Santiago as well as Buenos Aires.

Brazil

Activists and supporters from Sinergia Animal delivered our public letter and a large symbolic invoice representing the debt owed to animals to the World Bank / IFC office in São Paulo.

This week, in conjunction with our Global Day of Action, S3F also released a new analysis: Unsustainable Investment – The International Finance Corporation’s Failures to Address GHG Emissions in Industrial Livestock Operations. The report has been covered in Green Central Banking, The Banker, and Devex Dish. It examines 38 IFC investments in high-emitting meat, dairy, and feed companies between 2020 and 2025 and assesses whether the projects are likely to result in GHG mitigation. The findings are concerning. Despite IFC’s stated policies, client adherence is weak—particularly around GHG emissions reductions and physical climate risk management. With IFC’s Paris Agreement alignment deadline approaching (July 1, 2025), the report raises questions about whether current practices are compatible with IFC’s commitment.

We are confident that World Bank and IFC representatives heard our message loud and clear during the World Bank Group’s Spring Meetings this week. From the eye-catching bus shelter ads surrounding the World Bank headquarters targeting development leaders with the message: “World Bank, Is Factory Farming Worth Risking the Next Pandemic?” and mobile ads inside surrounding metro stations, to our Civil Society Policy Forum Panel titled, “How Can IFC Support the Shift to Sustainable Food Systems?” our collective call to action in DC and across the globe was impossible to miss.