In November 2004, the executive vice president of IFC requested an audit of IFC's environmental categorization of a soybean investment-Grupo André Maggi Participaçoes Limitada, or "Amaggi"-located in the Brazilian state of Mato Grosso.

IFC approved a US$30 million loan to finance the expansion of Amaggi's soy operations in September 2004. Prior to loan approval, the Amaggi expansion project had attracted criticism from a number of community organizations, which called for the project to be assigned a Category A rating, because they considered the project to have "sensitive, diverse, or unprecedented" adverse environmental impacts. In IFC's view, the appropriate rating was Category B, which requires a more limited level of environmental assessment.

The audit concluded that the category B rating could not be fully justified until certain conditions were met. These include IFC's assuring itself that Amaggi's Environmental and Social Management System (ESMS) is adequate to ensure compliance with IFC requirements and undertaking a rigorous assessment of the status of implementation of the ESMS. The CAO recommended that IFC publicly disclose a note on the actions it intends to take in response to the audit. The full text of the report can be found below.