Operations Environmental and Social Review Committee (OESRC)

Meeting Minutes
April 3, 2019

These minutes were cleared by the Chief Environmental and Social Standards Officer

Member participants: Charles Di Leva (CESSO) Chair; Victor Mosoti (Chief Counsel, LEGEN); Valerie Hickey
(Practice Manager, GENLC representing Julia Bucknall); Ethel Sennhauser (Director, Strategy and
Operations GGSVP).
Observers: Jon Lindsay (Lead Counsel, LEGEN); Agi Kiss (Lead Environmental and Social Standards
Specialist, OPSSP); Sachiko Morita (Sr. Counsel, LEGEN); Christophe Crepin (Practice Manager, GENE2);
Marc Sadler (Practice Manager, GCCFM); Siet Meijer (Sr. Operations Officer, GCCFM); Benoit Bosquet
(Director, GENDR); Glenn Morgan (Consultant).

Managing Environmental and Social Risks for the FCPF Emission Reductions Programs

The Committee discussed a note1 on the proposed approach to applying World Bank safeguards/E&S
standards to emission reductions programs (ER Programs) supported under the Carbon Fund of the Forest
Carbon Partnership Facility (FCPF), for which the World Bank serves as the Trustee (FCPF Trustee).2

The Committee endorses the two recommendations of the note, namely:

1) The proposed World Bank safeguards approach as described for ER Programs under the FCPF; and
2) The proposed approach outlined to apply ESF to the remaining ER Programs which have PCN review
meetings on or after October 1, 2018.

In the Committee’s view it is for Management to decide whether to seek the World Bank Board’s
absence-of-objection for this approach. The Committee notes that the FMT is responsible for taking this
into account in its communication with donors.

The OESRC’s endorsement is based on the following commitments by Management:

(1) the World Bank will prepare additional staff guidance for project teams and counterparts to
clarify the application of the proposed safeguards approach to ER Programs under the FCPF;

1 https://worldbankgroup.sharepoint.com/sites/wbunits/opcs/Pages/pc/Environmental-and-Social-Framework-

08032018-113059/Operations-Envi-03262019-165405.aspx
2
The proposed application of World Bank safeguards, in principle, will also apply to ER Programs under the
BioCarbon Fund Initiative for Sustainable Forest Landscapes (BioCF ISFL). The BioCF ISFL, like FCPF, is a multi-donor
trust fund, for which the World Bank acts as trustee. BioCF ISFL promotes greenhouse gas emission reductions from
the land sector, by focusing on reducing carbon emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD+) in
developing countries, sustainable agriculture practices, and other land-use planning, policies and practices leading
to emission reductions. ER Programs under BioCF ISFL are similar to those under the FCPF in terms of scope, scale,
and design of the ER Programs (i.e., the type of ER Program activities and ER Program requirements, including benefit
sharing, etc.). In fact, four out of five ER Programs under BioCF ISFL are located in FCPF countries, for which REDD+
“readiness activities” have been carried out under the FCPF. Given these similarities, it is recommended that the
same safeguard approach be used, in principle, for BioCF ISFL as that proposed for FCPF under this supplemental
briefing note. However, how the approach will be applied in practice would be determined on a case by case basis
for the BioCF ISFL ER Programs.
(2) the World Bank will provide working examples and training of how ESF documentation would be
applied to ER Programs for which the PCN review meetings are held on or after October 1, 2018;
and
(3) Task teams will consult with the OESRC as necessary, and as specific operational challenges may
arise relating to the application of the new ESF.