The World Wildlife Fund engaged AECOM Technical Services, Inc. (AECOM) to undertake a desk-based review of publicly available guidance, standards, tools, methods and frameworks used to assess sustainability and climate resilience of infrastructure development projects. The purpose of the Review of Screening Tools to Assess Sustainability and Climate Resilience of Infrastructure Development was to understand what types of tools were being used in practice, the scale of their application and if any could be identified as best practice and thus promoted more widely. AECOM reviewed a range of tools used by key financial institutions and infrastructure sustainability assessment bodies.
In undertaking the review, it was found that each of the financial institutions used environmental and social (E&S) assessments as part of their decision making process in financing the project. Each project concept undergoes an initial screening phase which determines the adverse E&S impacts the project will have; based on this classification, those that are categorized as negatively impactful will be required to undergo a detailed E&S assessment. Some of the financial institutions reviewed also use climate risk screening tools as part of their initial screening.