Letter to IFC: De Lage Landen (DLL), Brazil

In April 2024, members of the Stop Financing Factory Farming campaign wrote to IFC staff to flag issues with the bank’s proposed loan to De Lage Landen (DLL), a financial institution and subsidiary of Dutch multinational Rabobank.

Rabobank has received repeated, significant scrutiny for its role in financing deforestation among other issues. For example: through its subsidiaries, including DLL, the bank has provided finance to farmers who have engaged in illegal deforestation.

Sinergia Animal, along with 5 other campaign member organizations, identify the weaknesses of IFC’s loan requirements to DLL, which are inadequate to ensure that the ultimate beneficiaries of the money would be aligned with the IFC’s sustainability goals.

In general, the IFC’s policies when lending to other financial actors – known as “financial intermediaries” because they then invest the funds into other companies – are much weaker than when the IFC invests directly into companies.

We strongly recommend the IFC to only consider finance for DLL, and other financial intermediaries, when these have strong policies and due diligence procedures, including but not limited to, a zero deforestation policy, a commitment to achieve Paris alignment in the same timeframe as IFC ,.. We also strongly encourage the IFC to provide more transparency about the final beneficiaries of the loans provided through financial intermediaries.

Letter to IFC about proposed DLL investment, page 3

Use the link below to download and read the letter.