Sustainability Compliance in Georgian Law
In international practice the phrase sustainability compliance is often associated with dedicated corporate sustainability reporting regimes. Georgia has no such standalone statute, and it is important to say so plainly at the outset. The binding national framework that gives this concept legal content is the Law of Georgia on Environmental Protection, which sets out the goals and tasks of environmental law, a catalogue of fundamental principles, a system of environmental planning, and a climate protection chapter that now includes the authorization of greenhouse gas emissions. Together these provisions form the compulsory frame against which any business must plan and carry out its activities. This page explains what that frame requires from an undertaking in Georgia and how to approach compliance with it in practice.
Georgian legislation treats sustainable development as a system of societal development which, taking into account the interests of economic development and environmental protection, ensures growth in the quality of human life and the right of future generations to use natural resources and an environment that are maximally protected from irreversible quantitative and qualitative changes. This is not merely a declaratory formula: it produces concrete obligations for state bodies and for natural and legal persons alike, and those obligations are enforced through the machinery described below.
The Goals and Tasks of the Law
The principal goals of the Law on Environmental Protection are to define the principles and norms of legal relations in the field of environmental protection; to safeguard the fundamental constitutional human rights — to live in an environment harmless to health and to enjoy the natural and cultural environment; to ensure state protection of the environment and rational nature use, with an environment safe for human health, in accordance with the ecological and economic interests of society and taking into account the interests of present and future generations; to promote the conservation of biological diversity and of the rare, endemic and endangered species of flora and fauna characteristic of the country; to protect the marine environment and ensure ecological balance; to maintain and protect self-sustaining landscapes and ecosystems; to legally secure the resolution of common global and regional environmental problems; and, ultimately, to ensure the conditions for the sustainable development of the country.
The tasks of the law include the protection and maintenance of an environment safe for human health, the legal protection of the environment from harmful impact, the maintenance and improvement of the qualitative state of the environment, the optimal harmonization of the ecological, economic and social interests of society, the management of the use of natural resources taking into account the potential capacities of the environment, and the effective functioning of a unified system for the regulation of living genetically modified organisms. In practical terms this means that when you plan any project you must consider not only the economic outcome but also the impact on the environment and on the interests of future generations.
Fundamental Principles as the yardstick of compliance
When planning and implementing activities, state governance bodies and natural and legal persons — regardless of ownership and organizational-legal form — are obliged to be guided by the fundamental principles of environmental protection. These principles are precisely the criteria by which the sustainability of your activity will be assessed by supervisory bodies and, where relevant, by courts.
The law defines an extensive catalogue. The risk reduction principle obliges the subject of an activity to take appropriate measures to prevent or reduce the risk of harmful impact on the environment and human health. The sustainability principle covers the use of the environment and natural resources where no threat is created to the development of society and the environment and natural resources are protected from irreversible quantitative and qualitative changes. Under the priority principle, an action that may negatively affect the environment and human health may be replaced by another, less risky action, even a more expensive one; the more expensive action receives priority provided its cost does not exceed the costs of compensating the damage caused by the less expensive action. The principle of paid nature use establishes that the use of land, water, forests, flora and fauna, subsoil and subsoil natural resources by the subject of an activity is chargeable. The polluter pays principle obliges the subject of an activity to compensate the damage it has caused to the environment.
In addition, the principles of maintaining biological diversity, waste minimization, recycling, restitution, environmental impact assessment, public participation in decision-making and access to information all apply. The recycling principle gives preference to substances, materials and chemical compounds that are reusable or recyclable, biologically degradable or harmlessly decomposable in the environment, while the restitution principle requires that an environment degraded as a result of an activity be restored to a state as close as possible to its original condition. Each of these principles can be invoked when your conduct is evaluated, so they belong in every compliance plan.
The System of Environmental Planning
To ensure environmental protection and sustainable development, the law establishes a system of environmental planning that operates on three levels: a long-term strategic plan, the sustainable development strategy; a five-year plan, the National Environmental Action Programme; and environmental management plans prepared for the objects of activities. Understanding this system matters, because it shows how sustainability priorities cascade from parliamentary strategy down to individual facilities.
The National Environmental Action Programme is based on the sustainable development strategy, which the ministry elaborates together with other interested agencies. The draft strategy is considered and approved by the Parliament of Georgia, while the National Programme forms part of the indicative plan for the socio-economic development of Georgia and is approved by a government decree. Public participation in the elaboration of the draft strategy is mandatory, and environmental action programmes are drawn up at regional, local and departmental levels. For an individual undertaking the practical counterpart of this planning system is the environmental management plan prepared for the object of the activity.
Climate Protection and Greenhouse Gas Authorization
The centrepiece of the modern sustainability agenda is climate. Under the law, for the purpose of protecting the climate of the earth from global changes the subject of an activity is obliged to observe the norms for the release, that is emission, of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere and to carry out measures for their reduction. The release of greenhouse gases is regulated on the basis of the integrated system of environmental pollution control.
For activities determined by a resolution of the Government of Georgia, a greenhouse gas emissions authorization is mandatory. Save for aviation activities, the authorization is issued by the National Environment Agency within the system of the ministry, and for aviation activities determined by government resolution, by the Civil Aviation Agency within the system of the ministry of economy and sustainable development. Beyond the information required by the General Administrative Code, the application must contain a description of the installations and activities, including technologies, that may cause greenhouse gas emissions; information on the raw and auxiliary materials whose use may cause emissions; information on the emission sources determined by government resolution; a draft monitoring and reporting plan; and a short non-technical summary of all of this information. The authorization is issued for an indefinite term and is accompanied by a monitoring plan approved together with the decision.
The authorization may be declared invalid if the activity contemplated by it has not commenced within 5 years of receiving the authorization, or if the activity has been suspended for 2 calendar years and the person fails to substantiate that repair or renovation works were carried out during that period. You must immediately notify the issuing authority of any planned change in an operating condition related to the activity that may affect greenhouse gas emissions, and a proposal for amendments to the monitoring plan must be submitted no later than 31 December of the relevant year. An authorization may be transferred in whole or in part to another person, the transfer carrying both the rights and the corresponding obligations.
Monitoring, Reporting and Verification
The person carrying out the activity is obliged to conduct monitoring of greenhouse gas emissions on the basis of the monitoring plan, in accordance with the categorization of installations, the flows of emission sources and the corresponding methodology. Every year, no later than 31 March of the relevant year, an annual report on greenhouse gas emissions must be submitted to the issuing authority, verified by a verifier in the appropriate form. Submission of the report discharges the reporting obligation of the person carrying out the activity. Within 5 working days of receiving the verified report the authority ensures its publication on the environmental information portal. The relevant verifier accreditation rules enter into force on 1 January 2028.
Planning Compliance in Practice
The practical recommendation is straightforward. Begin with the principles of the law: assess the risks your activity poses to the environment and to human health, consider less risky alternatives, and plan waste minimization and recycling from the outset. Then verify whether your activity falls under the greenhouse gas emissions authorization regime and prepare the monitoring and reporting plan in good time. Bear in mind that the obligation to compensate damage caused to the environment exists independently of any administrative liability, so compliance is always cheaper than compensation. Legal.ge.