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Labour issues and the Equator Principles |
 A new version of the Equator Principles - the voluntary framework for addressing social and environmental risk in project finance - has been published. The new guidelines incorporate the IFC’s recently updated Performance Standards on sustainability issues, including PS2 on labour issues. Ergon has produced a new Special Briefing outlining the labour components of Equator II to assist signatories, their clients and other stakeholders in understanding the new requirements.
The new Equator Principles have the potential to improve conditions for many workers, but the procedures required for assessing risk and the issues that must be considered will be unfamiliar to most private sector banks - as will the possibility of engaging with wider stakeholders, such as trade unions. The Special Briefing sets out the general requirements of the Equator Principles and discusses the main risk assessment issues facing lenders and borrowers. It also looks in detail at the labour issues that must be addressed under PS2 and – it follows – under Equator II. |
