13 August 2012 - GLOBE-Net

The Equator Principles (EP) Association has released the draft of the updated Equator Principles (EP III) for stakeholder consultation and public comment. The EP is a risk framework for identifying, assessing, and managing environmental and social risks in Project Finance transactions and has been adopted by 77 financial institutions worldwide. Read More.

13 August 2012 - Carbon Credits Trading

Fiscal establishments about the world are this week getting invited to consider a proposed update to the Equator Rules, the popular established of due diligence guidelines developed to help banks and institutional buyers detect, analyse, and deal with environmental and social hazards related with venture finance deals.  The Ideas have been at first introduced in June 2003 and have been subsequently endorsed by 77 economic institutions in 32 international locations, which includes global giants this kind of as ABN Amro, Banco Santander, Lender of The usa, Barclays, Citigroup, HSBC, and JP Morgan Chase. Read More.

13 August 2012 - Finance Green Watch

The Equator Principles (EP) Association released the draft of the updated Equator Principles (EP III) on 13 August 2012 for stakeholder consultation and public comment. The consultation period will continue until Friday 12 October 2012. Key themes and areas of development proposed in the EP III draft include: An extension in the scope of the EP to Project-Related Corporate Loans and Bridge Loans; Changes reflecting the recent update of the International Finance Corporation (IFC) Performance Standards; New requirements related to managing impacts on climate; Greater emphasis on human rights considerations in due diligence and an acknowledgment of the UN “Protect, Respect and Remedy” Framework for Business and Human Rights and Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights; A strengthening of reporting and transparency requirements. Read More.

13 August 2012 - Ethical Insight: Issue 194, Maplecroft

On 13 August 2012, the Equator Principles Association published a draft of the updated Equator Principles (EP III) for stakeholder and public comment. The Equator Principles are a set of non-binding of standards which help companies determine, assess, and manage environmental risk in project finance transactions greater than US$10m. Since their initial release in June 2003, the initiative has received the backing of over 70 financial institutions in 32 countries. The third iteration of the Equator Principles is significant as it demonstrates that the organisation is committed to strengthening reporting requirements and improving disclosure. Read More.

19 June 2012 - Edmonton Journal

As many as 50,000 people and more than 100 heads of state have gathered in Rio de Janeiro to mark two anniversaries: the 40th anniversary of the first international meeting on environment, held in Stockholm in 1972, and the 20th anniversary of the United Nations Earth Summit on sustainable development, held in June 1992.  The current event, known as Rio+20, highlights areas of progress - from reducing some key air pollutants in Canada and other industrialized countries to drastically curbing the global use of ozone-destroying chemicals. But it also underscores a long list of environmental conditions that show mounting deterioration, from problems affecting the planet's oceans to biodiversity loss and climate change. Read More.

17 June 2012 - Prizma, Mehrdad Nazari

The 2003 launch of the Equator Principles signaled a virtuous spiral for environmental and social risk management in project finance. In light of Rio+20 and emergence of the UN-backed Principles for Responsible Investment are the EPs still relevant? A couple of recent blog entries in The Guardian’s Rio+20: the Earth Summit diaries about the financial sector and Achim Steiner, head of the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP), caught my eyes. They made me reflect on my experience working with multilateral financial institutions, project finance banks, export credit agencies - typically ‘Equator Banks’ - and my involvement in risky capital developments in emerging markets. Read More.

13 June 2012 – Financial Times, Sarah Murray

With many banks struggling for their own survival, they could be forgiven for putting saving the environment lower on the agenda.  However, some argue that because of the need for companies to manage growing constraints on natural resources, now is the time for the financial sector to play a bigger role in supporting a green economy. Read More.

5 June 2012 - Detail Solicitors

The EPs are an exemplary model for responsible banking and provide an excellent benchmark for assessing corporate social responsibility by financial institutions. Financial institutions in Nigeria must be prepared to accept the price of higher project screening and investigation costs, rejection of financially rewarding projects, and increased exposure to environmental monitoring, in the interest of social and environmental sustainability. The EPs have greatly impacted environmental law as the EPs combine a performance-based and a process-oriented approach and ultimately ensure socially responsible investments. The EPs are expected to be an effective tool of managing the interaction of businesses and the environment. Read More.

29 May 2012 – Daily Observer, Edwin M. Fayia III

A British-based mineral company operating in Grand Cape Mount County, Aureus Mining Company (AMC), has begun verifying over 300 persons whose houses and cash were affected by the company’s expansion program in Konjor, Gola Konneh District. ... the AMC leadership also pointed out that the Equator Principles require that a project be assessed in terms of the potential impacts on the environment.  Other partners involved in the AMC project in terms of observing genuine norms are the International Finance Corporation (IFC) to observe performance standards and the World Bank Sectoral Guidelines. Read More.