Environmental and social sustainability

• Environmental and social assessment
• Environmental and social standards
• Environmental and social information disclosure
• Environmental and social compliance requirements
• Supervision and monitoring
• International cooperation
• Useful information for clients

Environmental and social standards

BSTDB seeks to apply good international environmental and social practices in all the operations it finances. By good practices, the Bank recognizes the World Bank (WB)/International Finance Corporation (IFC) Performance Standards, and Environmental, Health and Safety (EHS) Guidelines; the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) Performance Requirements; the European Principles on the Environment (EPE); the European Investment Bank (EIB) Environmental and Social Practices Handbook; the European Union (EU) environmental and social standards; the ILO CLS; the World Health Organization (WHO) standards; relevant IMO conventions; as well as relevant international conventions, such as but not limited to the Convention on the Protection of the Black Sea Against Pollution; and the multilateral environmental agreements under the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE), in particular the Convention on Access to Information, Public Participation in Decision-Making and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters (Aarhus Convention), and Convention on Environmental Impact Assessment in a Trans-boundary Context (Espoo Convention).

In co-financed operations the Bank accepts for reasons of consistency and to avoid duplication, the environmental and social requirements of its partners if these are equivalent or superior, more developed or more stringent than its own requirements in this respect.