We assist project developers and their advisors involved in project finance and political risk insurance from Multilateral Financial institutions (such as IFC, EBRD), Export Credit Agencies (such as EDC, JBIC, KfW, DEG, Coface, Hermes, ECGD, SACE), and other project finance banks (Equator Principles Financial Institutions or EP-FI) which require adherence to the Equator Principles and IFC Performance Standards. Our expertise covers scoping, development, appraisal, readiness assessment (gap analysis) and transitioning of 'old school' Environmental Impact Assessments (EIAs) to bankable Social and Environmental Assessments (SEAs – also known as ESIAs) and related Environmental and Social Action Plans (ESAPs). We can assist in setting up related management systems and provide training courses.
Although each project and impact assessment has its own context, strength and weaknesses, elements which often require improvements include the following:
- Social baseline studies and impact assessment, stakeholder engagement, disclosure and public consultation that need to be able to demonstrate Free, Prior, Informed Consultation (FPIC) and Broad Community Support (BCS) (IFC Performance Standards 1, 5, 7)
- Resettlement Action Plans (RAP) often meet local regulatory requirements but require additional efforts to also meet IFC Performance Standards in order to avoid financing delays (IFC Performance Standards 1, 5, 7)
- Biodiversity risks are often identified adequately in EIAs but are not mitigated through bankable Biodiversity Offsets and partnerships (IFC Performance Standard 6)
