- Environics has been contracted by Lorax Capital Partners (LCP) to carry out an Environmental and Social Due Diligence (ESDD) for potential investment in a Cairo-based company that provides loyalty program solutions to corporates in Egypt, in order to assess its Environmental and Social (E&S) performance according to the requirements of LCP ESMS.
- The applicable E&S standards against which the ESDD was undertaken were:
- National Environmental and Social (including Occupational Health and Safety) legislation
- IFC Performance Standards on Environmental and Social Sustainability, 2012, including the following applicable standards:
- EBRD Environmental & Social Policy Guidelines and Performance Requirements (PR), 2014
- European Investment Bank (EIB) Environmental and Social Standards, 2009
- As the solution provider company was classified as low E&S risk activity, the main scope of the ESDD focused on the most common activities that have minor or limited environmental and social risks and impacts associated with them, namely, administrative offices operation such as:
- Labor issues;
- Emergency preparedness and firefighting;
- Occupational health and safety; and
- Waste management.
- The ESDD comprised the following activities:
- Document Review including: a review of relevant national legal framework, IFI requirements, as well as project’s documents and information provided during the site visit.
- Media Review: to identify relevant key environmental and social issues that have been covered in the national press.
- Site Visit: Environics carried out a site visit to the company’s premises. The visit activities included: reviewing documents related to the ESDD scope and conducting discussions with key personnel who are familiar with the current system, as well as interviewing employees to investigate system communication and implementation.
- Assessment: follow up on previous ESDD ESAP implementation, assess E&S practices, and evaluate potential gaps/weaknesses that could have environmental or social liabilities; and
- Reporting: preparing the ESDD report including an Environmental and Social Action Plan (“ESAP”) describing the actions to be implemented to achieve compliance with the Reference Framework.
