The International Development Finance Corporation (DFC), the lending and investment arm of the U.S. government and a key foreign policy tool, has abruptly terminated the director of its Independent Accountability Mechanism (IAM), which handles complaints about environmental and social harm. The unexpected move leaves no staff in the congressionally mandated IAM office. Mehrdad Nazari was the IAM’s first director and had been in the position since 2024. He was informed by DFC lawyers in January that his term would not be extended past the end of February, though he was eligible for a five-year extension. Under Nazari, the IAM assessed complaints against DFC funding that included ExxonMobil’s multibillion-dollar Rovuma natural gas project in Mozambique. The DFC was created with bipartisan support in the U.S. Congress through 2018’s BUILD Act. Meant to counter the influence of Chinese state-issued debt, it invests in private sector projects that advance U.S. foreign policy goals, such as critical mineral extraction in the DRC. Its current portfolio is worth more than $40 billion, with an investment cap that was extended to $200 billion by Congress last year. The IAM assesses environmental, labor and human rights complaints against DFC-funded projects. In an interview with Mongabay, Nazari said senior lawyers at the DFC told him that his term would not be renewed because “every administration deserves to bring in their own guy.” Stephanie Amoako, policy director at the Washington, D.C.-based Accountability Council, said she was concerned the decision is a sign the DFC is pulling back on oversight…This article was originally published on Mongabay

From Conservation news via this RSS feed