The standards we work to

IFC Performance Standard 6 (PS6)

IFC Performance Standard 6 — Biodiversity Conservation and Sustainable Management of Living Natural Resources — is part of the International Finance Corporation’s Sustainability Framework, in force since January 2012. It is the de facto global benchmark for biodiversity in project finance, adopted by more than 120 financial institutions worldwide.

• The mitigation hierarchy — avoid, minimise, restore, and offset impacts, in that order.
• Habitat classification — modified, natural and critical habitat, each with progressively stricter requirements.
• Critical habitat — areas of high biodiversity value (for example, habitat important for Critically Endangered or Endangered species, restricted-range or migratory species, or highly threatened ecosystems), where projects must achieve a net gain.
• No net loss — for natural habitat, projects are expected to achieve, at minimum, no net loss of biodiversity.

How we apply it: we screen every site against the PS6 habitat criteria, run a critical habitat assessment where the context requires it, and structure the ESIA and management plans around the mitigation hierarchy and the relevant no-net-loss or net-gain target.

Currency: IFC opened a review of its Sustainability Framework in 2025, expected to run to around 2028. PS6 (2012), read alongside Guidance Note 6 (updated 2019), remains the standard in force — and we track the review so our methodology stays current.

EBRD PR6 / ESR 6

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development sets its biodiversity requirement through its Environmental and Social Policy. Under the 2019 policy this was Performance Requirement 6 (PR6); under the 2024 policy, in effect from October 2024, the Performance Requirements were renamed Environmental and Social Requirements, so PR6 is now ESR 6 — Biodiversity Conservation and Sustainable Management of Living Natural Resources. The substance closely mirrors IFC PS6: the same mitigation hierarchy, habitat categories, and no-net-loss and net-gain logic.

How we apply it: we prepare assessment that meets ESR 6 (and the earlier PR6, for projects still governed by the 2019 policy), and we flag at the outset which version applies to a given transaction so there are no surprises in due diligence.

EIB Environmental and Social Standards

The European Investment Bank applies its Environmental and Social Standards, part of the EIB Group Environmental and Social Sustainability Framework approved in February 2022 (in force for projects from 1 March 2022). Biodiversity is covered by Standard 4 — Biodiversity and Ecosystems — which requires evidence-based impact assessment, application of the mitigation hierarchy, and effective management measures, consistent with the EU principle of doing no significant harm.

How we apply it: for EIB-financed projects we structure the biodiversity assessment to meet Standard 4 alongside IFC PS6 and EBRD ESR 6, so a single body of work satisfies whichever lender is involved.

The Equator Principles (EP4)

The Equator Principles are a risk-management framework adopted by over 100 financial institutions (EPFIs) to assess environmental and social risk in project finance. The current version, EP4, has been in effect since 1 October 2020 and applies to transactions mandated on or after that date. For projects outside high-income OECD countries, the Equator Principles require alignment with the IFC Performance Standards — which is why a PS6-grade biodiversity assessment sits at the centre of Equator Principles compliance.

Romanian environmental regulation

International standards do not replace national law — a project still has to clear Romanian permitting. We build every assessment to satisfy both.

• OUG 57/2007 — on protected natural areas and the conservation of natural habitats, wild flora and fauna; transposes the EU Habitats and Birds Directives and underpins the Natura 2000 regime.
• Legea 292/2018 — on the environmental impact assessment of certain public and private projects; the basis for the Romanian EIA procedure.
• Ordinul 1682/2023 — the methodological guide for Appropriate Assessment of plans and projects affecting Natura 2000 sites; in force since June 2023, replacing the earlier 2010 guide.

How these standards fit together

For a renewable-energy project in Romania seeking international finance, these frameworks overlap but are not identical. A study prepared only for Romanian permitting will not necessarily satisfy a lender; a study prepared only to IFC PS6 will not clear Romanian permitting. We design the assessment once, to the highest applicable bar across all five frameworks, so it serves the regulator and the financier together — in English and Romanian.