Written by Greg Radford, Managing Partner, ESSA Technologies and fmr Director of Environment, International Finance Corporation

1. International Finance
& Biodiversity Offsets
Greg Radford, M.Sc.
Managing Partner, ESSA Technologies Ltd

2. International Business Drivers
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International Financial Institutions
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Business Practices
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IFC and Equator Principles
Voluntary corporate commitments to biodiversity are evolving
Rio Tinto is a business leader with a “Net Positive Impact” policy commitment
Other big players in mining are starting to follow Rio Tinto’s lead (e.g. some of the top
miners have biodiversity commitments in development that are not public yet).
Regulatory
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Existing and forthcoming national regulations. Examples include:
Peru has published draft regulations for public comment that require No Net Loss to
biodiversity.
Chile is drafting regulations too.
Colombia already has similar regulations.

3. International Finance Drivers

Biodiversity & Ecosystem Services in Impact
Assessment Special Symposium
Inter-American Development Bank | Washington, DC,
7-8 February 2013
The Biodiversity for Banks (B4B) program, is
designed to help financial institutions overcome the
challenges of incorporating risks associated with
biodiversity and ecosystem services into their
lending decisions.

http://www.equator-principles.com

http://bbop.forest-trends.org

4. IFC PERFORMANCE STANDARDS OVERVIEW
WWW.IFC.ORG
PS1: Assessment and
Management of E&S
Risks and Impacts
PS5: Land Acquisition
and Involuntary
Resettlement
PS2: Labor and Working
Conditions
PS3: Resource Efficiency
and Pollution Prevention
PS6: Biodiversity
PS7: Indigenous Peoples
Conservation and
Sustainable Management
of Living Natural Resources
PS4: Community Health,
Safety and Security
PS8: Cultural Heritage

5. PS6: BIODIVERSITY CONSERVATION AND SUSTAINABLE
MANAGEMENT OF LIVING NATURAL RESOURCES
Objectives include:
protection and conservation of biodiversity
maintain benefits from ecosystem services
Offset requirements are established through the
ESIA process
Mitigation hierarchy includes biodiversity offsets
Biodiversity offsets should achieve measureable
conservation outcomes
Offset must adhere to “like-for-like or better”
principle
“No net loss” requirement for natural habitats
“Net positive gain” requirement in Critical
Habitats

6. Mitigation Hierarchy Gone Wrong…