Management and future development of the Equator Principles Association
Management of the Equator Principles Association
Organizational management of the Equator Principles Association
Equator Principles Financial Institutions (EPFIs) adopted the Governance Rules and established the Equator Principles (EP) Association in July 2010. EP Association is an unincorporated international association of member EPFIs whose object is the management, administration and development of the Equator Principles. Five entities are responsible for the management of the EP Association: the Steering Committee and the Chair, the CEO, the Working Groups, the Secretariat, and the Trustee.
The Equator Principles Association management structure*
* Links to the Equator Principles Association official website
Chair of the Steering Committee
The role of the Chair is to chair the Steering Committee and provide coordination across the Steering Committee, the Working Groups, and EPFIs to advance the objects of the EP Association. The Standard Chartered Bank of United Kingdom is appointed as the current Chair of the EP Association (as of August 2023).
CEO
In May 2023, the EP Association appointed its first CEO. The CEO is responsible for the day to day leadership and management of the EPA, on behalf of the Steering Committee, and will deliver key initiatives set in the annual work plan.
Steering Committee
The administration, management, and development of the Equator Principles and of the EP Association itself is delegated to and managed by the Steering Committee. The Steering Committee consists of 10 EPFIs as of August 2023.
Working Groups
In order to gain input from a wide number of EPFIs and to share the management workload, Working Groups are formed to progress issues where detailed consideration and input is required. Some Working Groups are permanent, while others based on specific projects are temporary.
All Working Groups are open to all EPFIs. Each Working Group lead is to report to the Steering Committee on the progress of the relevant Working Group, and to direct that Working Group in accordance with Steering Committee decisions.
The Equator Principles Association Working Groups
Secretariat
The Secretariat manages the day to day running of the EP Association (e.g. Operating the official website, arranging conferences and preparing the minutes of meetings) on behalf of the EPFIs and is currently provided by a third party entity.
Trustee
Annual membership fee system was implemented in 2008 among the EPFIs. Therefore, a Trustee was appointed by the Steering Committee to oversee its financial and tax affairs and assume responsibility for its physical and intellectual property.
Exchange of opinions with international NGOs
As key stakeholders, the international NGOs play an important role in the implementation of the Equator Principles. The EP Association exchanges opinions, from time to time, on the progress of issues such as climate change, social risks, human rights and reporting and transparency with NGOs.
Revision of IFC Performance Standards
The IFC revised its Performance Standards (PS) in January 2012.
To reflect changes in the IFC PS, EPFIs revised the Equator Principles to focus on a number of themes, such as Biodiversity, Climate Change, and Social Risks, and launched the third version of the Equator Principles (EP III) in 2013. The current fourth version of the Equator Principles (EP4) has further strengthened these themes. Mizuho has started to apply EP4 from July 2020.
Accomplishments of the Equator Principles
Three changes to project finance
The Equator Principles have resulted in three major changes to project finance.
- With the Equator Principles, environmental and social risks are now widely recognized by society as significant risk factors, in assessing the projects. In addition, the implementation of risk–responsive measures via an Action Plan, is now embedded in the financing agreement. As a result, consideration of environmental and social risks and the mitigation of risks have been prioritized, benefitting the global environment and local communities.
- The application of the Equator Principles to a project has become an important competitive factor for financial institutions in obtaining the position of lead arranger in project syndication. In addition, collaboration in coping with environmental and social risks has been encouraged among syndicate members. The establishment and dissemination of these Principles have given financial institutions focused initiatives when addressing environmental and social risks.
- The vigorous exchange of opinions on the environmental and social risks of a project has been encouraged among financial institutions, clients and environmental NGOs through the management of the Equator Principles and their application to project finance.
As described above, the Equator Principles have brought a variety of advantages to stakeholders including project–affected communities, financial institutions, clients and environmental NGOs.
Perspective
EP Association's Strategy
In October 2020, the Equator Principles (EP) Association launched its first ever Strategy. This high-level statement sets out the directions for the Association over the next few years and demonstrates the collective willingness of the EP Association to continually improve.
20 years of EP
June 2023 was the 20-year anniversary of the Equator Principles (EP). EP remains a market proven risk framework and well recognized brand. Areas that may require further consideration to ensure that the EPs remain the 'gold standard' in E&S risk management are being discussed among members.
At this moment, more than 130 financial institutions have adopted the Equator Principles.
Increasing the number of adopting financial institutions enhances the influence and leverage of the Equator Principles, which further leads to a decrease in environmental and social risks. Therefore, it is paramount for the EP Association to continue outreaching to those financial institutions that have not yet adopted the Equator Principles and to increase the number of members.