Who gains from saving nature
Ledger 1 : 33 — For each dollar financing nature-based solutions in 2023, about $33 financed activities harmful to nature. (UNEP)
Cases / Agriculture, livestock and food · Uzbekistan · 2021–2026

Indorama Agro cotton project (Uzbekistan)

Nature's voice · report
No measurement of the harm done to me here is on record.
Did nature suffer? Not measured.
People
  • About 10,000 people were displaced or listed for relocation.
    Reported by 89 NGOs (April 2025); not independently verified.
What the record lacks: 3 none on record · 1 insufficient · 2 not measured · 1 disputed See the gaps

A cotton producer in Uzbekistan took loans from the IFC, the EBRD and the Asian Development Bank and repaid them early in January 2025. Civil-society groups reported job losses, displacement and reprisals in its area of operation.

54,000 haArea operated by Indorama Agro, as reported by CEE Bankwatch
Figure from CEE Bankwatch (January 2025). IFC's 2021 announcement referred to about 50,000 ha.

Status As of 2026: the EBRD IPAM registry lists the land-transfer complaint as open; the company repaid its loans early in January 2025.

What?
Loans from the IFC, the EBRD and the ADB to a cotton producer in Uzbekistan, followed by reports of land abandonment, job losses, displacement and reprisals in its area, a complaint to the EBRD's accountability mechanism and early repayment of the debt in January 2025. CEE Bankwatch
Where?
Uzbekistan; the sources reviewed do not name the districts.
When?
Loans announced 2021; early repayment January 2025; complaint listed in the IPAM registry (2026). EBRD Independent Project Accountability Mechanism case registry
Who?
Gained
  • Indorama Agro — Received loans of USD 60 million (IFC), 70 million (EBRD) and 15 million (ADB) and exited the lenders' safeguard obligations by repaying early in January 2025. Rights in Development
Lost
  • Farms and workers in the project area — 1,068 farms gave up land; job losses of 5,418 and 9,070 were listed. CEE Bankwatch
Harmed
  • People in the project area — About 10,000 reported displaced and more than 80 reprisal cases, according to 89 NGOs. Rights in Development
Why?
The IFC stated the aim of promoting sustainable cotton and improving rural livelihoods; the sources reviewed give no statement of the company's own reasons. IFC
How?
Through lending from three development finance institutions; accountability was pursued through the EBRD's IPAM complaint process. EBRD Independent Project Accountability Mechanism case registry
6 of 6 questions answered from the record

What happened

The record, in order.

Indorama Agro is a cotton producer operating in Uzbekistan. According to CEE Bankwatch, it works about 54,000 hectares. In May 2021 the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the World Bank Group's private-sector arm, announced an investment under the headline "IFC invests in Indorama Agro to promote sustainable cotton". The sources reviewed list loans to the company of USD 60 million from the IFC, USD 70 million from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and USD 15 million from the Asian Development Bank (ADB).

In April 2021 the Uzbek Forum for Human Rights and CEE Bankwatch sent a briefing on the loans to the EBRD. It said the environmental and social impact assessment had gaps on water, soil and health, and noted pesticides that are restricted in the European Union.

In January 2025 CEE Bankwatch reported that the EBRD's Independent Project Accountability Mechanism (IPAM) was investigating the project. It put the number of farms that gave up land at 1,068 and listed job losses of 5,418 and 9,070, with 90 people found eligible for livelihood support. In April 2025 a statement by 89 NGOs, addressed to the IFC and the EBRD, reported about 10,000 people displaced and more than 80 cases of reprisal, and said the company had left the lenders' safeguard obligations by repaying its debt early.

The EBRD's IPAM case registry lists a complaint about the Indorama Agro Capex Loan (Request #3). The entry records the land-transfer complaint as open and an outcome in September 2023 described as inconclusive.

  1. 2021Uzbek Forum for Human Rights and CEE Bankwatch send a briefing on the Indorama Agro loans to the EBRD (April); IFC announces its investment (May)
  2. 2023September: an outcome recorded in the EBRD IPAM registry as inconclusive
  3. 2025January: Indorama Agro repays its debt early, ending the lenders' safeguard obligations; CEE Bankwatch reports that IPAM is investigating. April: 89 NGOs address an urgent call to the IFC and the EBRD
  4. 2026EBRD IPAM registry lists the land-transfer complaint on Request #3 as open

What was said

Claims, in the words of those who made them.

“IFC invests in Indorama Agro to promote sustainable cotton”

IFC press release headline (partial, as recorded) · May 2021 · IFC

Where accounts differ

Each party's account, side by side, with its source. The record does not settle these points; it shows them.

Did the project improve livelihoods, or did it cost people their land and jobs?
International bodies
IFC

Presented the investment as promoting sustainable cotton and improving rural livelihoods in Uzbekistan.

IFC
Communities and civil society
CEE Bankwatch

Reported 1,068 farms giving up land, job losses of 5,418 and 9,070, and 90 people eligible for livelihood support.

CEE Bankwatch
Communities and civil society
89 NGOs

Reported about 10,000 people displaced and more than 80 reprisal cases, and asked the IFC and the EBRD to act.

Rights in Development

How it looked

What was shown, beside what was recorded.

Shown

  • The IFC presented its investment as a way to promote sustainable cotton and improve livelihoods in rural areas of Uzbekistan.
    IFC · IFC

Recorded

Who gained

Money that reached nature, beside money that stayed elsewhere.

Reached nature or the ground

Not published
No figure published.

Gained elsewhere

Not totalled
Currency: · Window: . All figures cover the same period. * Estimate built from cited figures.

Responses on record

In court and with insurers

Every proceeding and every insurer decision on record.

Lawsuits and rulings

  1. Ongoing
    Complaint on the Indorama Agro Capex Loan (Request #3)
    EBRD Independent Project Accountability Mechanism (IPAM) · Administrative · Complainants (not named in the sources reviewed) → EBRD (loan to Indorama Agro)

    The registry lists the land-transfer complaint as open and records an outcome in September 2023 described as inconclusive. EBRD Independent Project Accountability Mechanism case registry

Insurers

No insurer decision on record.

What nature saw

Outcomes measured on the ground, and nature's note.

Nature's report opens this page. Below: further outcomes measured on the ground.

Impact assessment gaps
Water, soil, health
Uzbek Forum and CEE Bankwatch briefing for the EBRD, April 2021
Pesticides
EU-restricted
The same briefing noted pesticides restricted in the European Union
Farms that gave up land
1,068
CEE Bankwatch, January 2025

What we don't know

Undisclosed, unproven, untried: recorded as data.
Displacement reportedUnder standard-setter review

Nature

  • Not measured Harm to nature: The record holds no measurement of harm to nature.

Accounts

  • Disputed Did the project improve livelihoods, or did it cost people their land and jobs?

Record

  • None on record Indorama Agro's own account of the job losses, displacement and reprisal allegations is not on record in the sources reviewed.
  • None on record The IPAM registry records a September 2023 outcome as inconclusive; the sources reviewed do not describe what was examined or concluded.
  • Insufficient Reported but not independently verified: the IFC announcement's description of the project's size (about 50,000 ha) and the loan amounts; the sources reviewed give the loan figures without a primary loan document.
  • None on record The sources reviewed do not say whether the reported losses were remedied after the early repayment.
  • Not measured The sources reviewed contain no independent ecological evaluation of the project.

Did the harm stop?

The loans were repaid early in January 2025, ending the lenders' safeguard obligations. The sources reviewed do not say whether the reported harms were remedied.

Who paid?

According to the NGO statements, farmers and workers in the project area: farms gave up land, jobs were lost and about 10,000 people were reported displaced.

Sources

Voices on record: — Company or project— Government and regulators— Courts— Press and investigations✓ Communities and civil society— Researchers✓ International bodies

Communities and civil society

  3. Indorama Agro loans: Briefing for EBRD
    Uzbek Forum for Human Rights and CEE Bankwatch (via Business & Human Rights Resource Centre) · 2021-04-12

International bodies

  2. Indorama Agro Capex Loan (Request #3)
    EBRD Independent Project Accountability Mechanism case registry · 2026

Connected cases

Related matters, and cases linked to this one through the same organisations, with the role each played in both.
Terms used on this page

Science and environment

Hectare (ha)
A unit of area equal to 10,000 square metres, about 2.5 acres. 100 hectares make one square kilometre.

Carbon and conservation finance

Standard-setter and registry
An organisation that writes the rules for carbon credits, approves projects, and records when credits are issued and retired. Such bodies typically charge fees per credit.
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