Submission to OPIC on Revisions to its Environmental and Social Policy Statement

In November 2016, CCSI sent a submission to the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) regarding its draft revised Environmental and Social Policy Statement (ESPS). CCSI’s input focused on two discrete issues that CCSI has been working on: (1) contract transparency for natural resource and infrastructure projects, and (2) redress for harms in the context of project abandonment or failure. The submission urged OPIC to add into the ESPS a requirement that Applicants involved in natural resource or infrastructure projects commit to publicly disclosing any investor-state contracts related to the underlying Project. CCSI’s submission also suggested that OPIC incorporate into the Draft ESPS a requirement that Applicants develop appropriate closure plans that would cover harms to Project Affected People and would apply in the case of both anticipated and unanticipated project closure, along with a requirement that Applicants make provisions for financial assurances to guarantee performance of closure plan provisions covering harms to Project Affected People.

The full submission is available here.