- Environics was commissioned by Catalyst Investment Management to carry out an Environmental and Social Due Diligence (ESDD) for a 50 MW PV Power Plant located in Benban, Aswan to assess its Environmental and Social (E&S) performance. The plant’s construction was completed and commissioning started.
- The objective of the ESDD was to assess any potential environmental or social areas of concern associated with E&S compliance status of the PV project site against the applicable regulatory frameworks, standards and IFI requirements, including:
- Applicable national environmental and social (including occupational health and safety) legislation including:
- Environmental Law 4/1994;
- Labor Law 12/2003; and
- Law 63/ 1964 regarding social insurance.
- Project’s ESAP included in the Environmental and Social Review Summary prepared by IFC, 2017;
- The World Bank Group General Environmental, Health and Safety Guidelines, 2007; and
- IFC Performance Standards on Environmental and Social Sustainability, 2012.
- Applicable national environmental and social (including occupational health and safety) legislation including:
- This was carried out through identifying areas of non-compliance/areas of concern, if any, proposing possible mitigation measures and providing an Environmental and Social Action Plan (ESAP) for addressing the identified gaps.
- Regarding investigating previous construction activities, the ESDD addressed historical E&S performance with reference to IFC’s ESAP and those related to potentially unresolved aspects of non-compliance and/or grievances and other findings identified during site observations as well as issues raised by the lender(s) audits.
- The ESDD comprised the following activities:
- Document Review including documents and information provided before, during and after the site visit,
- Site Visit to evaluate current conditions, identify areas of potential concern, as well as meeting with relevant individuals/stakeholders to discuss the environmental and social issues;
- Assessment of E&S practices implemented and evaluation of any potential gaps/weaknesses;
- Reporting including: project description, results of the E&S due diligence assessment, as well as the Environmental and Social Action Plan (“ESAP”) with recommended actions to achieve compliance with the Reference Framework.
