More than sixty human rights, environmental justice and Indigenous Peoples’ organizations have endorsed a policy proposal for a new, rights-based approach to community participation in decision-making about investment projects that impact their land and lives. The proposal, authored by Inclusive Development International, warns that adoption of this new approach is urgently needed to ensure that projects being fast-tracked as part of the renewable energy transition do not trample the rights of Indigenous Peoples and other land-connected communities. It is being published ahead of the World Bank Group Annual Meetings this week, where the signatories are calling upon the International Finance Corporation (IFC) to incorporate the key principles of the proposal into its updated Sustainability Framework, one of the most influential sets of standards guiding global development institutions and the private sector in their treatment of project-affected communities.
The proposal notes that while a rapid shift to renewable energy use is urgently needed, transition mineral mining, large-scale renewable energy infrastructure and other projects being pursued are enormously land-intensive, and current approaches to land acquisition for such projects routinely lead to forced displacement and other rights violations.
“Unless the major industries involved—including mining companies, their downstream buyers and the development banks and other financial institutions backing them—adopt a fundamentally different approach to how communities are treated when their land is needed for investment projects, we will replicate the injustices of the extractive, fossil economy we are trying to leave behind,” said David Pred, executive director of Inclusive Development International.
Proposal for a just alternative to development-forced displacement
The proposed new approach puts forward a framework for shifting policy and practice away from the prevailing paradigm that accepts forced displacement of communities “in the way of development,” towards a new approach to engaging project-affected people that is rooted in respect for their dignity, knowledge and capabilities to make their own development choices. Core principles include:
- Communities should have access to independent technical and legal support to conduct mapping and baseline studies of their land and resources, assess the impacts of project design options, and shape the development benefits they wish to attain from the project.
- Designs that avoid displacement and other significant community impacts to the maximum extent possible should be prioritized—only after fully exploring avoidance options should unavoidable impacts be addressed, with a focus on minimizing their duration and maximizing restoration and return of land.
- Rights-based mediation that addresses power imbalances should be used to forge fair and equitable agreements that prevent harm to communities and provide compensation and development benefits that sustainably improve their living standards and well-being.
- Involuntary resettlement should only be carried out in the most exceptional circumstances, in strict accordance with international human rights law principles—any invocation by governments of “public interest” to justify expropriation and override community objections must be subject to a rigorous human rights assessment. In the case of Indigenous Peoples, expropriation should not proceed without their Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC).
- Community-company agreements should be legally binding and enforceable by communities themselves—with the support of legal counsel—through courts, human rights-compliant arbitration, such as under the Hague Rules on Business and Human Rights Arbitration, or other accessible and effective enforcement mechanisms.
- Development finance institutions, commercial lenders, investors and buyers should enable this approach by contributing resources for independent technical and legal support for communities and by offering mediation services for upfront agreement making, and they should use their leverage to ensure that obligations to communities are met throughout the project cycle.
As the leading private sector standard setter on environmental and social issues, the IFC’s adoption of a just approach to community engagement would have a catalytic effect. More than 150 organizations, including financial institutions that are signatories to the Equator Principles, export credit agencies, and Development Finance Institutions rely on the IFC’s Performance Standards, and many individual corporations commit to their implementation in their operations. In April 2025 the IFC commenced a multi-year update of its Sustainability Framework, including the Performance Standards, offering a critical opportunity for change.
“This moment requires more than tinkering on the edges of the IFC Sustainability Framework. It calls for a wholesale new approach that starts by recognizing affected communities—not as passive stakeholders as they are currently treated—but as rights-holders with the capability and the power to exercise agency over decisions that may fundamentally alter their lives,” said Natalie Bugalski, senior legal and policy director at Inclusive Development International, and the lead author of the proposal.
“This is not actually a radical proposition—it just means incorporating concrete measures into the Performance Standards that will give effect to the commitment that the IFC and other institutions already make to realizing broad community support for their projects.”