Editorial note

The World Bank first adopted Operational Directive 4.01 on Environmental Assessment in 1989, its objective being to ensure that the development options adopted were sound and enduring from an environmental perspective and that environmental consequences were recognised at an early stage in the project cycle and included in the project scheme. The Directive was the subject of significant criticism, including the failure to provide for a ‘no-action alternative’ whereby the project may be stopped because the environmental risks are too great to allow the project to proceed at all, and its silence as to mandatory requirements concerning the provision of information to local populations and their right to participate in the environmental impact assessment process. In 1999 the policy was converted into a new format, now reflected in Operation Policy (OP) 4.01 and Bank Procedures (BP) 4.01, which has sought to address these and other issues. The Bank Procedures explain how the Bank staff shall implement the Bank's policies.

By OP 4.01 the World Bank requires environmental assessment (EA) of projects proposed for Bank financing to help ensure that they are environmentally sound and sustainable, and thus to improve decision-making (paragraph 1). EA is described as a process, which evaluates a project's potential environmental risks and impacts in its area of influence; examines project alternatives; identifies ways of improving project selection, siting, planning, design, and implementation; and includes the process of mitigating and managing adverse environmental impacts throughout project implementation.