In accordance with MIGA's Convention, this policy is Annex B to MIGA's Operational Regulations. MIGA will require environmental assessment of proposed projects to help ensure that MIGA will provide guarantees only to those projects that are environmentally sound and sustainable, and thus to improve decision making. Environmental assessment is a process whose breadth, depth, and type of analysis depend on the nature, scale, and potential environmental impact of the proposed project. MIGA will favor preventive measures over mitigatory or compensatory measures, whenever feasible.
Environmental assessment considers natural and social aspects in an integrated way.
MIGA will not issue guarantees to projects that would contravene such country obligations as identified during the environmental assessment. Environmental assessment should be initiated as early as possible in the sponsor's project development process, and is integrated closely with the economic, financial, institutional, social, and technical analyses of a proposed project. If a lender or minority partner, the applicant will be required to provide MIGA with a copy of the project sponsor's environmental assessment of the project, and supplemental information as deemed necessary by MIGA in determining that the investment is environmentally sound and sustainable. For Category A projects 3 the project sponsor should retain independent environmental assessment experts not affiliated with the project to carry out the environmental assessment to avoid a potential conflict of interest. For Category A projects that are highly risky, or contentious, or that involve serious and multidimensional environmental concerns, the project sponsor should normally also engage an advisory panel 4 of independent, internationally recognized environmental specialists to advise on all aspects of the project relevant to the environmental assessment.