Project Finance, human rights and climate change: Updated Equator Principles

(Lexology, London, 25 September 2020) The Equator Principles have been one of the principal frameworks for managing sustainability and ESG risk in projects by financial institutions since 2003. The latest update – known as EP4 – renews the focus on human rights and climate change with effect from October 1, 2020. EP4 is the latest update for EP assessment and management of environmental and social risk in international project finance. There are now 110 EPFIs which include banks and [some] export credit agencies. Key differences from the June 2013 version (EP3) relate to the scope of transactions covered by the Equator Principles, and new requirements in relation to projects in high-income Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) nations, human rights, impacts on indigenous peoples and climate change