The government has introduced a new ministerial order that makes both environmental and social impact assessments mandatory for major development projects, a move experts say will ensure that growth is not only ecologically sustainable but also socially responsible.

Issued by the Ministry of Environment, the ministerial order of August 19, 2025, relating to environmental and social impact assessment (ESIA), repeals the order of 2019 which only focused on environmental impact assessment.

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As per the order, the list of works, activities and projects subject to full environmental and social impact assessment include buildings classified as residential, commercial, administrative or institutional, sports facilities, social, cultural, and assembly and religious buildings, educational buildings, or other publicly accessible facilities fulfilling at least one of the set criteria.

The criteria include having capacity to host more than 500 persons; having a total floor area exceeding 1,500 m2; residential building of G+4 (with aground floor plus four upper floors) and above, non-residential buildings of G+3 and above; industries; health facilities; buildings with activities which can cause hazards; and warehouses for storage of hazardous materials and perishables, among others.

Rationale and key changes

Talking about the rationale for the new order, Thadée Twagirimana, Acting Director General of Environment and Climate Change at the Ministry of Environment, told The New Times that it repeals the ministerial order of 2019 establishing the list of projects that must undergo environmental impact assessment, instructions, requirements and procedures to conduct it, due to gaps observed throughout its implementation.

The gaps include a lack of social aspects in its texts, lack of clear provision on requirements to be fulfilled by an environmental practitioner, and the need to improve the contents of its annexes, he indicated.

He pointed out that the new ministerial order establishes the list of works, activities and projects subject to environmental and social impact assessment before they obtain authorisation for their implementation, and modalities to conduct an environmental and social impact assessment.

The key changes made under this order, Twagirimana said, are the following: