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7 Discourses of Social Investment …
7.1 Contextualising the Guideline Documents
In my interviews with social investment experts, I asked them to identify the
main documents that guided their social investment practices. The most frequently
mentioned documents were the International Finance Corporation (IFC) Performance Standards on Environmental and Social Sustainability (Torrance, 2012) and
the World Bank Group Community-Driven Development Principles (WBG, 2002)
(for the full list of the documents participants adopted to guide their social investment practices, see Chapter 5). In this chapter, I refer to these documents as the
Performance Standards and the Community-Driven Principles, respectively. By
briefly contextualising these widely adopted guideline documents (based on the
social investment experts’ perspectives), I also provide possible justifications for
the experts’ selection of the IFC Performance Standards and the Community-Driven
Principles.
Most participants chose the guidelines established by the World Bank Group
over the guidelines developed by the O&G sector, such as the IPIECA Guide to
Successful Sustainable Social Investment and/or the GRI O&G Sector Supplement,
to guide their O&G social investment practices. Participants’ preference for the
World Bank Group/IFC guidelines over other documents within the O&G sector may
reveal experts’ involvement in projects subjected to the banks’ funding regulations.
However, during the interviews—when participants named the banks’ documents—
experts did not mention whether their companies had projects funded by the World
Bank Group.
Both the IFC Performance Standards and the World Bank Group CommunityDriven Principles are documents produced by the World Bank Group.
1 The World
Bank Group represents the major investor in O&G Upstream and Midstream projects
worldwide (for more information on World Bank Group funding of O&G activities
see Razavi, 1995). The World Bank Group’s funding of O&G activities is often
justified by the claim that O&G exploration and production promotes local development of human resources (Pegg, 2006; Smith, Shepherd, & Dorward, 2012). O&G
Upstream and Midstream activities require large-scale infrastructure and a large
contingent of workers. Consequently, the direct impacts on nearby communities are
usually unavoidable (for more details see Chapter 2). Funding institutions within the
World Bank Group are certainly aware of the impacts of large-scale O&G projects
(Smith et al., 2012). As co-funders, these banks also share responsibility for such
impacts and have, therefore, provided safeguard policies to borrowing institutions,
such as O&G companies.
The IFC Performance Standards is one example of a safeguard-policy document. The Performance Standards comprise a framework for managing companies’
environmental and social risks while implementing potentially high impact projects
1 The World Bank Group is composed of five institutions: The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD), the International Development Association (IDA), the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the Multinational Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA), and
the International Centre for Settlement of Investment (ICSID).
7 Discourses of Social Investment …
7.1 Contextualising the Guideline Documents
In my interviews with social investment experts, I asked them to identify the
main documents that guided their social investment practices. The most frequently
mentioned documents were the International Finance Corporation (IFC) Performance Standards on Environmental and Social Sustainability (Torrance, 2012) and
the World Bank Group Community-Driven Development Principles (WBG, 2002)
(for the full list of the documents participants adopted to guide their social investment practices, see Chapter 5). In this chapter, I refer to these documents as the
Performance Standards and the Community-Driven Principles, respectively. By
briefly contextualising these widely adopted guideline documents (based on the
social investment experts’ perspectives), I also provide possible justifications for
the experts’ selection of the IFC Performance Standards and the Community-Driven
Principles.
Most participants chose the guidelines established by the World Bank Group
over the guidelines developed by the O&G sector, such as the IPIECA Guide to
Successful Sustainable Social Investment and/or the GRI O&G Sector Supplement,
to guide their O&G social investment practices. Participants’ preference for the
World Bank Group/IFC guidelines over other documents within the O&G sector may
reveal experts’ involvement in projects subjected to the banks’ funding regulations.
However, during the interviews—when participants named the banks’ documents—
experts did not mention whether their companies had projects funded by the World
Bank Group.
Both the IFC Performance Standards and the World Bank Group CommunityDriven Principles are documents produced by the World Bank Group.
1 The World
Bank Group represents the major investor in O&G Upstream and Midstream projects
worldwide (for more information on World Bank Group funding of O&G activities
see Razavi, 1995). The World Bank Group’s funding of O&G activities is often
justified by the claim that O&G exploration and production promotes local development of human resources (Pegg, 2006; Smith, Shepherd, & Dorward, 2012). O&G
Upstream and Midstream activities require large-scale infrastructure and a large
contingent of workers. Consequently, the direct impacts on nearby communities are
usually unavoidable (for more details see Chapter 2). Funding institutions within the
World Bank Group are certainly aware of the impacts of large-scale O&G projects
(Smith et al., 2012). As co-funders, these banks also share responsibility for such
impacts and have, therefore, provided safeguard policies to borrowing institutions,
such as O&G companies.
The IFC Performance Standards is one example of a safeguard-policy document. The Performance Standards comprise a framework for managing companies’
environmental and social risks while implementing potentially high impact projects
1 The World Bank Group is composed of five institutions: The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD), the International Development Association (IDA), the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the Multinational Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA), and
the International Centre for Settlement of Investment (ICSID).