Resources

Environmental Assessment - one of the 10 environmental and social Safeguard Policies of the World Bank - is used in the Bank to examine the potential environmental risks and benefits associated with Bank lending operations. The Bank's Environmental Assessment policy and procedures are described in Operational Policy/Bank Procedures - OP/BP 4.01.

Under OP/BP 4.01, Bank lending operations are broadly defined to include investment lending, sector lending, rehabilitation lending through financial intermediaries, and investment components of hybrid lending. Prototype Carbon Fund (PCF) and Global Environmental Facility (GEF) co-financed projects are also subject to the provisions of OP/BP 4.01.

The Bank's policy stresses that Environmental Assessment should be thought of as a process rather than a specific product.