Environmental and social impact assessment in Mongolia  (Archived)

Sustainability opened an office in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia in August 2008 and has been working on projects in Mongolia since 2001. We have been assisting Energy Resources LLC with an environmental and social impact assessment for a proposed coal mine in the Gobi Desert. The Mongolian-owned coal operation has received investment from the European Bank for Reconstruction & Development (EBRD) which has specific requirements and standards for environmental and social safeguards for mining developments.

The EBRD was established in 1991 to assist former Soviet countries to "reconstruct & develop" and their sphere of operation has in recent years been expanded to include Mongolia. The Bank is committed to only financing projects that are environmentally and socially sound and sustainable.

Sustainability's role is to work closely with the Mongolian consultancies who developed the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) for Energy Resource's proposed coal project to ensure that the EIA is of standard and format acceptable for the international investment community, and to ensure that social impacts and public participation processes were included in the project's EIA development.

We were integral in Energy Resources' successful obtainment of international investment for their initial start-up mine, and we are currently assisting them in environmental and social assessment for the expansion of this mine and its associated infrastructure such as the construction of a railway, airstrip, water supplies and powerlines.

For more information, contact environment@sustainability.net.au