獨立問責機制於赤道原則之運用──以世界銀行與國際金融公司機制為借鑒

The Application of Independent Accountability Mechanism under Equator Principles from World Bank Inspection Panel and International Finance Corporation Compliance Advisor Ombudsman

自西元1970年代起，國際社會陸續提出各項與環境及社會有關之宣言。企業亦於重視環境及社會的趨勢下，盡可能降低企業行為可能對環境及社會造成負面影響之可能性。商業銀行於此脈絡之下，於西元2003年建立「赤道原則」，作為其提供資金予專案計畫執行者時，管理與評估專案計畫可能產生之環境及社會風險。赤道原則自開始實行以來，確實為赤道銀行、專案計畫執行者與專案計畫坐落地之公眾帶來一定程度的正面效益。然而，赤道原則於制度上仍有可改善之處，其中，以欠缺獨立第三方之監督為外界最關注之議題。就此，本文主張以世界銀行與國際金融公司運作獨立問責機制之經驗為主要基礎，於赤道原則中建構獨立問責之機制。

Since 1970s, the international societies have promulgated kinds of declarations about the environments and societies. Following the trends of attaching great importance to environmental and social issues, the enterprises reduce the adverse impacts of environments and societies as possibly. In this context, the commercial banks which also operate as the structures of enterprises established‘Equator Principles’in 2003. The Equator Principles are intended to serve as a management and evaluation framework for commercial banks to manage and assess environmental and social risks when financing projects. Since the Equator Principles started implemented, they have indeed produced positive benefits to a considerable extent for Equator Principles Financial Institutions, clients, and communities. However, there’s an inherent dilemma to be improved for the Equator Principles Institution. The deficiency of independent monitoring is one of the most concerning issues for the external stakeholders therein. In this regard, some arguments state that establishing the Independent Accountability Mechanism under the Equator Principles is worthy of consideration. In this article, it would be mainly based on the experiences of operating independent accountability mechanisms by the World Bank and the International Finance Corporation, probe into the possibilities of the Independent Accountability Mechanism established by the Equator Principles.