Environmental impact assessment (EIA and ESIA)
We prepare environmental impact assessments (EIA), their lender-standard form with social impacts (), and specialist chapters for energy, heavy industry, infrastructure and carbon storage projects, written to , the and national EIA rules.
What this means for you. If you are building a plant, pipeline, port or district that needs a loan or a permit, the EIA shows what it will do to the air, water, noise and people nearby, and how you will manage it.
- Scope
- Screening, scoping and terms of reference
Baseline design, supervision and QA
Impact assessment chapters and specialist studies
Mitigation, management and monitoring plans
Independent review before lender or regulator submission - What we need from you
- Project description and layout
Emission and discharge inventory
Existing permits and monitoring data
Target standards and lender list - What you receive
- ESIA report or standalone chapters
IFC Performance Standards gap table
Assumptions register
Environmental and social management plan inputs - Standards
- IFC Performance Standards 1–8 (2012)
IFC EHS General and sector guidelines
Equator Principles 4
National EIA regulations
Questions clients ask
Is an ESIA the same as an EIA?
An EIA assesses a project's effects on the physical and biological environment. An ESIA adds social impacts, such as land acquisition, community health and safety, labour and cultural heritage, as the IFC Performance Standards require for lender-financed projects. Most international projects now need the ESIA form.
When does a project need an ESIA?
When a lender applies the IFC Performance Standards or the Equator Principles, or when national EIA law requires one for the project type and size. Most large energy, industrial, port and pipeline projects fall into one or both.
Can you take on one chapter rather than the whole ESIA?
Yes. We often deliver the air, noise, water or underwater-noise chapter for another firm's ESIA, or review a draft against the IFC Performance Standards before the lender's adviser sees it.
How long should baseline monitoring run?
Long enough to represent the conditions the impact assessment relies on, which usually means covering the seasons that matter for the s. We design the campaign to the standard and reviewer you will face rather than to a fixed number of weeks.
Do you prepare EIA reports for environmental clearance in India?
Under India's EIA Notification, 2006, the EIA report for environmental clearance is prepared by a consultant organisation accredited under the QCI-NABET scheme. We supply the specialist studies, modelling and lender-standard ESIA work that sits alongside it.
Do you work outside India?
Yes. Our team members and associates work across India, the GCC, Europe, the United States and Australia, and we take on projects worldwide.
Related technical notes
Tell us about the project. We reply shortly with the questions a lender, regulator or verifier is likely to raise.