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The IFC is in the middle of reforming Performance Standard 5, the standard governing how its financed projects handle land acquisition and displacement. Civil society groups say the standard has structural gaps that fail to prevent significant harm even when it is followed to the letter. This piece summarizes the structural problems of PS5 pointed out by civil society and looks at two cases, Tata Mundra and the CBG bauxite mine in Guinea, to illustrate how those structural problems fail to prevent community harm. With reference to these cases, PS5 reform recommendations are made as well.

In Beyond Remedies: How Accountability Mechanisms Can Protect Communities from Irreversible Harm, Ana Gutiérrez and Gregory Berry examine how Independent Accountability Mechanisms (IAMs) can function not only as tools for remedy after harm occurs, but as critical instruments for preventing environmental and social harm before it becomes irreversible. Building on Jonathan Fox’s call to rethink “what counts” as accountability, the article explores how IAMs, despite limited formal powers, have helped delay, suspend, or terminate projects posing imminent risks to communities. Through case studies spanning climate finance, conservation, extractive industries, and infrastructure development, the authors show how preventive accountability emerges through financial leverage, policy design, political pressure, and transparency, and argue that strengthening IAM independence and early-stage intervention is essential to upholding the “do no harm” principle in development finance.

Accountability Counsel’s new report, Accountability in Action or Inaction? An Empirical Study of Remedy Delivery in IAMs, offers the first comprehensive evaluation of the ways that Independent Accountability Mechanisms (IAMs) deliver justice to communities harmed by development bank–financed projects.

Drawing on analysis of all 2,270 complaints filed to 16 IAMs through 2022 and 45 interviews across 25 cases worldwide, the study reveals that while IAMs can achieve transformative remedies—such as improved labor practices, community health programs, and restored dialogue between companies and affected people—these outcomes remain rare. Only 15% of complaints resulted in any identifiable commitment, and just 10% saw at least one commitment fully completed.

The research highlights systemic challenges including poor implementation, power imbalances, and widespread retaliation against complainants, but also points to pathways for reform. Strengthening IAM mandates, improving monitoring and transparency, and ensuring timely, participatory remedy are essential to realizing the full promise of development accountability and making justice a consistent and predictable reality rather than an exception.