ANNEX D
ILLUSTRATIVE LIST OF CATEGORY A PROJECTS
The following is an illustrative list from the June 2012 OECD Common Approaches that present examples of the types of new and major expansion projects that may be classified as Category A.
- Crude oil refineries (excluding undertakings manufacturing only lubricants from crude oil) and installations for the gasification and liquefaction of 500 tonnes or more of coal or bituminous shale per day.
- Thermal power stations and other combustion installations (including cogeneration) with a heat output of not less than 300 megawatts (equivalent to a gross electrical output of 140 MWe for steam and single cycle gas turbines power stations) and nuclear power stations and other nuclear reactors, including the dismantling or decommissioning of such power stations or reactors (except research installations for the production and conversion of fissionable and fertile materials, whose maximum power does not exceed 1 kilowatt continuous thermal load).
- Installations designed for the production, or enrichment of nuclear fuels, the reprocessing, storage or final disposal of irradiated nuclear fuels, or for the storage, disposal or processing of radioactive waste.
- Integrated works for the initial smelting of cast-iron and steel, e.g. installations for the production of primary steel by blast furnace route or direct reduction; installations for the production of non-ferrous crude metals from ore, concentrates or secondary raw materials by metallurgical, chemical or electrolytic processes.
- Installations for the extraction of asbestos and for the processing and transformation of asbestos and products containing asbestos: for asbestos-cement products, with an annual production of more than 20,000 tonnes finished product; for friction material, with an annual production of more than 50 tonnes finished product; and for other asbestos utilization, of more than 200 tonnes per year.
- Installations for the manufacture and/or recovery of chemicals (including but not limited to petrochemicals, fertilizers, pesticides & herbicides, health care products, detergents, paints, adhesives, agro-chemicals, pharmaceuticals, explosives) on an industrial scale using physical, chemical and/or bio-chemical processes and for large scale distribution of such chemicals via pipelines/terminals and associated facilities.
- Construction of airports with a basic runway length of 2,100 meters or more.
- Construction of motorways and express roads.
- Construction of a new road, or realignment and/or widening of an existing road, where such new road, or realigned and/or widened section of road, would be 10 kilometers or more in a continuous length.
- Construction of railway lines that go beyond urban areas and of long-distance railway lines.
- Sea ports and also inland waterways and ports for inland-waterway traffic which permit the passage of vessels of over 1,350 tonnes; trading ports, piers for loading and unloading connected to land and outside ports (excluding ferry piers) which can take vessels of over 1,350 tonnes.
- Waste-processing and disposal installations for the incineration, chemical treatment or landfill of hazardous, toxic or dangerous wastes.
- Large1 dams and other impoundments designed for the holding back or permanent storage of water.
- Groundwater abstraction activities or artificial groundwater recharge schemes in cases where the annual volume of water to be abstracted or recharged amounts to 10 million cubic meters or more.
- Industrial plants for the production of pulp, paper and board from timber or similar fibrous materials.
- Operations that involve large scale extraction, via underground or open-pit mining, solution mining, or marine or riverine operations to obtain precious metals, base metals, energy and industrial minerals, or construction materials. It may also include the processing of the extracted material.
- Greenfield cement plants where the project includes a greenfield quarry.
- Large scale oil, gas, or liquefied natural gas development that may include any or all of:
- exploration (seismic and drilling);
- field development and production activities;
- transport activities, including pipelines/terminals, pump stations, pigging stations, compressor stations and associated facilities; or
- gas liquefaction facilities.
- Installations for storage of petroleum, petrochemical, or chemical products with a capacity of 200,000 tonnes or more.
- Large-scale logging.
- Municipal waste water treatment plants with a capacity exceeding 150,000 population equivalent.
- Municipal solid waste-processing and disposal facilities.
- Large-scale tourism and retail development.
- Construction of overhead electrical power transmission lines with a length of 15 kilometers or above and a voltage of 110 kilovolts or above.
- Large-scale land reclamation.
- Large-scale primary agriculture / sylviculture involving intensification or conversion of natural habitats.
- Plants for the tanning of hides and skins where the treatment capacity exceeds 12 tonnes of finished products per day.
- Installations for the intensive rearing of poultry or pigs with more than: 40,000 places for poultry; 2,000 places for production pigs (over 30 kilograms); or 750 places for sows.
- Projects which are planned to be carried out in sensitive locations or are likely to have a perceptible impact on such locations, even if the project category does not appear in the above list. Such sensitive locations include National Parks and other protected areas identified by national or international law, and other sensitive locations of international, national or regional importance, such as wetlands, forests with high biodiversity value, areas of archaeological or cultural significance, and areas of importance for indigenous peoples or other vulnerable groups.
- Projects involving land acquisition and involuntary resettlement of a significant number of affected people.
1 As per the definition of the International Commission on Large Dams (ICOLD), ICOLD defines a large dam as a dam with a height of 15m or more from the foundation. Dams that are between 5 and 15meters high and have a reservoir volume of more than 3 million m3 are also classified as large dams.
adapted.