A guide to the Independent Project Accountability Mechanism (IPAM)

This requirement calls on the EBRD’s client (the borrower) to identify, assess and manage environmental and social risks associated with a project. It establishes a mitigation hierarchy approach, instructing borrowers to anticipate, avoid, minimize and mitigate risks and impacts to acceptable levels, and compensate for and/or offset residual adverse impacts if necessary.  

This requirement protects workers rights in all projects, emphasizing health and safety at work. It mandates fair treatment, non-discrimination, and equal opportunities, ensuring compliance with national labor laws and collective agreements. Clients must protect vulnerable workers and prevent forced or child labor. An effective grievance mechanism must be available for all workers, including those employed by third parties and in the supply chain. 

This requirement sets standards for resource efficiency and pollution prevention, emphasizing the adoption of a mitigation hierarchy to address adverse impacts on human health and the environment. Clients must avoid, minimize and manage greenhouse gas emissions, hazardous substances, and materials, including pesticides. They should identify opportunities for resource efficiency improvements throughout the project lifecycle. 

This requirement focuses on protecting the health, safety and security of both workers and project-affected communities. It mandates ensuring safe, healthy and secure working conditions and implementing a risk-appropriate management system. Clients must identify, assess, and manage health, safety and security risks to communities and consumers throughout the project lifecycle. 

This requirement aims to avoid involuntary resettlement or minimize it when unavoidable by exploring project alternatives. It emphasizes avoiding forced eviction, mitigating adverse social and economic impacts by providing timely compensation for lost assets, and ensuring meaningful consultation and participation. The objective is to restore or improve the livelihoods and living standards of affected people and provide adequate housing with security of tenure for physically displaced individuals. 

This requirement focuses on protecting and conserving biodiversity using a precautionary approach. It mandates adopting the mitigation hierarchy in project design and implementation to achieve no net loss, and where appropriate, a net gain of biodiversity. It also aims to maintain ecosystem services and promote good international practices in the sustainable management and use of living natural resources. 

This requirement ensures projects respect the dignity, rights, cultures and livelihoods of indigenous peoples. It aims to anticipate and avoid adverse impacts on indigenous communities or minimize and mitigate them when avoidance is not feasible. This requirement ensures effective participation and mandates ongoing relationships and good-faith negotiations with indigenous people, obtaining their free, prior and informed consent (FPIC) where applicable. 

This requirement supports the protection and conservation of cultural heritage. It adopts the mitigation hierarchy approach to protect cultural heritage from adverse project impacts and promotes the equitable sharing of benefits derived from its use.

This requirement outlines how financial intermediaries (who then on-lend funds) will assess and manage environmental and social risks associated with the sub-projects they finance. It promotes good environmental and social management practices in these sub-projects and advocates for sound human resources management within the financial intermediaries themselves. 

This requirement establishes a systematic approach to stakeholder engagement, ensuring that clients build and maintain constructive relationships with their stakeholders, including local communities and those affected by the project. It emphasizes the importance of effective and inclusive engagement throughout the project cycle, ensuring that appropriate environmental and social information is disclosed and that meaningful consultations are held. Clients are expected to consider feedback from these consultations and integrate it into project decision-making where appropriate. Additionally, this requirement mandates that grievances from stakeholders are responded to and managed in a timely and appropriate manner.